Amethyst Eyes
by Terra Saltt
Summary: Tino's oddly colored eyes have landed him in many tight spots his entire life, but none quite like this. When a terrifying dragon adds Tino to his horde of gems and jewels, he finds himself wondering who else is after him…and why? And are Tino's eyes the only thing this dragon wants? SuFin AU. Dragon!Berwald x Tino. Not bestiality, darn it.
1. Not Always as They Appear

**Welcome to another fantasy dump of mine. Boy do I love fantasy and magic, and boy do I love messing with Sweden. Pooooor Sweden. Oh well, at least he (usually) gets his Finny at the end.**

**WARNINGS:**

**T for some future action scenes.**

**NOT PRE-WRITTEN. Update speed will vary.**

**SuFin (Dragon!BerwaldxTino)**

**Fluffffffffff**

**If you like it, review it. If you don't, review it and tell me why. Thanks~**

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The forest was almost pitch black. Once it was so serene, but now the branches of tall trees appeared as gnarled claws scraping at the dark moonless sky. Everything was different at night, from the sights to the sounds, and even the smells of what should have been so familiar were alien. Feet pounded at the ground without a care of how loud they were compared to the clicks and hoots of normal forest life. It didn't matter as much as it should have to the terrified Finn jumping over dark fallen logs while the presence of his pursuers closed in.

Just minutes ago, Tino was at peace in his modest home. He lived away from the bustling of town life, preferring a solitary life to his scrutinizing neighbors. Every month he would go into town to sell animal pelts, shop for supplies, and say hello to the few townsfolk who were kind enough to befriend him despite his oddity. Bright lilac eyes kept most at a distance. They were thought to be unlucky.

Perhaps they were. His entire life was one tragedy after the other, such as this one.

Tino's breath came ragged as he felt himself reach his end. Could he stop and climb a tree? No, the branches were too high! There was no chance of him fighting back, either. It was a miracle Tino was able to escape their rough grasps before he was spirited away the first time. His only hope was to keep running and pray for a form of salvation.

The young man came to an abrupt stop. In the darkness, he nearly ran into a tall rock wall in his immediate path. It was a cliff with rugged rocks jutting out from compact soil for several feet straight up, and there was no way around it. Tino only had a second to curse under his breath before he started to climb. Sharp rocks dug into his palms, but the pain was impossible to feel over the numbness his adrenaline provided in his state of terror.

He didn't get more than a few feet up before his hunters came crashing through the brush. Their dark forms collided with the wall with a sickening thud, but it only stunned them for a mere moment. The creatures didn't seem to feel pain, nor were they very smart, but they were persistent. One reached out and grabbed Tino's leg and the boy screamed, desperately trying to kick it away while still clinging to the face of the cliff. It held fast, and soon the other two were grabbing and clinging to whatever they could reach. The creepiest thing of all that elicited the most fear was how quiet they were, like silent black ghosts with blank faces. There was no mouth to hiss or snarl. Nothing to show that these inky beings were even alive. Tino made up for their silence with the sounds of his screaming and struggling, but like a nightmare, it did little good.

Just when he was sure he was about to fall backwards and be carried away, there was a roar. Whatever starlight illuminated the forest disappeared when another shadow jumped over the top of the cliff. The creatures let go so suddenly that Tino was unprepared, and he felt himself lose his balance on his precarious perch. The only gravity he could feel as he fell was the sensation of his stomach sinking in his gut. For a split second, there was no up or down. Tino didn't know where he was. He heard heavy thuds on the approaching ground and the sound of feral growling like none he'd ever heard before, then nothing. The impact didn't hurt, because Tino was knocked out on contact.

Heavy eyelids struggled to open when the boy woke up. He instantly knew something was wrong. This didn't smell like his cottage, nor did this bedding feel anything like his own. It didn't take long for his memories to return, and he opened his eyes to a warm orange glow cast from a dozen torches lining the gray walls. It looked like a cave of some sort. Under his body was a large pile of fur pelts from all kinds of creatures, all soft and pleasantly warm. Above, the rock ceiling somehow twinkled like stars.

Tino moved to get up, but as soon as he did, he regretted the action. Pain shot up from his leg and he hissed through gritted teeth. He couldn't move it. There were bandages tied tightly with silver cord around his ankle, and his boots sat together not too far away. A bump on his head also pained him. It appears he was hurt, and whoever saved him dressed his wounds.

The boy let out a long breath and lay back down. His eyes wandered to the floor, and he caught sight of something that took his breath away. Gold. The floor was covered in gold. Pieces of jewelry, coins, sparkling colorful gems, various objects cast in rare shiny metals littered the floor until you could barely see what lay beneath! No wonder the ceiling sparkled with so much glitter reflecting from down below. What was this place? How did Tino he get here? Those _things_ couldn't be stopped by any normal means. Unless they _did_ capture him, and this is where they wanted to take him. But why tend to Tino's wounds? What did they want from him?

Echoing footsteps stopped Tino's thinking. He raised his head to look at the only exit, a dark hole on the other side of the room, waiting to see something reveal itself and dreading the sight of a faceless creature like the ones that attacked him. The heavy footsteps stopped. Tino gulped as he waited, but nothing happened. He could make out a shadowy outline just beyond the torchlight. Hesitantly, he called with a voice that was a bit meeker than he intended.

"H-hello?" He felt so empty and alone when his voice bounced off the walls. The figure stayed where it was. Tino could swear he saw eyes flicker like tiny flames. "Are you the one that brought me here?"

A deep grumbled hum responded. It also repeated a few times throughout the cave as an equally empty echo. Tino was feeling dread pool in his stomach as he desperately tried to deduce if this was good or bad. Obviously it wasn't one of the faceless creatures or it wouldn't have made a sound, nor have eyes. But what was it?

Tino sat up carefully, avoiding moving his ankle. "…Who are you?"

The figure shifted and grew taller as it came forward. Tino felt his heart start to pound as he realized it wasn't human in any shape or form. It moved into the light, standing taller than a horse on all fours.

A dragon.

The boy started to shiver as the realization dawned on him. There was nowhere to go and nowhere to hide. Thanks to his injured leg he could hardly move, much less run. He was in the middle of a dragon's horde of treasure, and he was helpless! But instead of attacking, the creature simply walked forward through the only path cleared of glittering trinkets leading to Tino's bed. It stopped in front of him and sat down on the floor, its dark blue slithering tail coming to a rest beside its hunched body, and it stared down at the terrified boy at its feet.

What happened? What was going on? Why did the dragon look so docile when it should be infuriated?

Tino pulled up one of the pelts and hid under it, only his eyes showing as he watched for any sign of a threat. It was all he could think to do as the silence stretched on.

"Come out."

Tino blinked in surprise. Did the dragon just talk? The echo on the walls confirmed that he wasn't hearing things. Slowly, the boy slid the covers down past his chin in utter shock.

The beast leaning over him was covered in dark blue scales with a golden yellow underbelly. Pale claws on its hand-like paws and pearly white sharp teeth poking out from under the creature's lips made Tino tremble. Dragons were known for ripping people to pieces without much strain. So why wasn't this one? Even more puzzling were the red scratches scattered over its chest and legs like claw marks, and they looked fresh. This dragon was recently in a fight.

Tino was caught between relief and an unmanly shriek of terror when the dragon spoke again. His voice was deep and rumbling. "Eat." It pointed down with its nose to reveal a wooden bowl sitting to the left of the frightened Finn. He didn't notice it before. Tino looked down at it to see it contained what looked like chunks of meat in a steaming broth. He gingerly picked it up, and the dragon made some kind of hum of satisfaction, then rested its head on the edge of the bed while still peering at Tino with shimmering oceanic eyes.

Tino found it impossible to take even a tiny sip of the broth in this situation. He was too nervous to swallow! The boy was certain the dragon was boring a hole through his head with that look of his. Something really seemed to interest it about Tino's face.

"Eat," it commanded again and Tino jumped, making some of the broth spill. The liquid was hot when it hit his lap and he gasped.

"Ah! I'm sorry-"

"You hurt?" The creature's eyes narrowed and it lifted its head. Tino took it as anger.

"N-no! It was only a d-drop, and it cooled already so I'm fine!" Tino squeaked out. The dragon seemed to accept this and settled down, not once looking away.

This was so weird! Tino did his best to appease the beast and eat some of the stew, but without a utensil it was sort of hard. He drank what he could until he gathered the courage to ask the question that was burning on his mind this whole time.

"Who are you?"

The dragon hesitated before answering. "…I am called Berwald. You?"

"Tino," he said with the best smile he could muster, hoping it would help diffuse the tension. Tino often smiled in the face of danger because he was too afraid to do anything else. "Um, what happened, exactly? And why am I here?"

"I brought you here," Berwald said simply. "You were being attacked."

"And…you fought those apparitions off? Is that how you got those wounds?"

Berwald nodded.

"Wow…" Tino shook his head of his disbelief and remembered his manors. It wouldn't hurt to be nice to the scary beast that could kill him on a whim. "Um, thank you for helping me, and I apologize for causing you harm! Shouldn't those wounds be dressed? You wouldn't want them to get infected…"

"S'fine. They will heal."

"Yeah, but…" Tino trailed off when he realized Berwald was moving closer. He tried to back away, but dragon's long neck could reach him no matter how much he leaned away. His snout came closer until their noses were almost touching. Warm breath tickled his face, and Berwald just stared. He seemed to be inspecting something about the boy.

What brought this on? The Finn froze in fear with his eyes wide as Berwald studied, unable to tell if this was good or bad.

"Wh-what are you doing?"

"Gems," the other murmured. Tino wasn't quite sure he heard him correctly. Berwald finally moved away and searched the ground around him. Tino scooted back, very timid of this strange dragon's behavior, as it plucked something out of the clutter on the floor. Held delicately between two claws was a small purple jewel polished and imbedded in a silver ring.

The ring was held out for Tino to see, but it only made his confusion grow as to why he was being shown it. And why did the ring look familiar somehow? "I don't understand…"

"Amethyst," Berwald clarified.

Tino blinked at him. "So it is…I'm still not sure what this has to do with my question."

"Eyes," Berwald motioned, once again staring in a way that looked sort of mesmerized. "Your eyes. They are amethysts. How?"

Oh. Berwald was pointing out the strange lilac color of Tino's eyes. He guessed they were the color of purple amethysts, which is probably why the ring looked familiar. "I don't know. I was born with them." He left out how some villagers thought he was the royal son of Hel because of their color.

Berwald's brow lifted in what could pass as surprise. His voice was under his breath, wonder etched in his slow words. "Born with gems for eyes…"

Wait, did he seriously think there were rocks in Tino's head? "…My eyes aren't actually amethysts. They only have the same color."

The dragon shook his head. "No. They are real."

This was getting ridiculous. "You can't use stones for eyes."

"You do."

"And how are you so sure?"

"My eyes see," he said. "I am a dragon, so my eyes see all treasures. Even those cast with dark magic, like yours." At that moment, one of the torches on a nearby wall went out. All of them looked close to dying, so it was no surprise that a draft could have extinguished one. The increasing shadows made Berwald look even fiercer.

The dragon stood up. Berwald walked through the gold clutter until he reached the torch. What happened next made Tino gasp in shock, because he drew in a breath and exhaled bright hot flames from his mouth. It licked at the air and grabbed hold of the smoldering torch, lighting it again, and the trickle of fire ceased. The room was back to its original ambiance of flickering lights when Berwald turned back to Tino, who's heart beat fast at the display of power.

The Finn's head was practically spinning. "I-I don't understand why I'm here…don't you hate people? Why am I here, right in the middle of your home, when most dragons would slaughter anything that touches their treasures?"

"You are mine." That had Tino's breath hitch for a moment. Did he hear that correctly? Berwald stepped forward, slowly, until he was standing on his hind legs over the shaking Finn staring up at him with wide violet eyes. A paw reached out and cupped the side of his face, and Tino was too petrified to move. A thumb brushed his skin, the claw careful not to scratch as it lightly dragged just under one of those shimmering orbs that were the boy's eyes. "Never found something like you before. Beautiful…"

The realization dawned on Tino as the paw lifted away. Berwald thought his eyes were really jewels. Dragons loved to collect things like gems and rare metals, and apparently, this one collected him. Tino's eyes were part of a dragon's collection now. That means Tino was, too.

A flurry of emotion ran through his mind. Relief, knowing that Berwald would be keeping him alive instead of roasting and eating his corpse like the other monsters of lore. Grief, knowing that keeping him alive meant trapping him in this cave for the rest of his existence. Resentment, seeing how his cursed eyes have once again played havoc with Tino's life. But there was something else, too. Something very deep inside Tino's soul that burned like a small candle in the dark. A kind of recognition, he guessed, but of what he had no clue. Tino was too caught up in the madness of the situation to dwell on it.

Was he better off with those inky apparitions who wordlessly dragged the young man from his bed and out the door? Possibly. But then again, this dragon hadn't done anything to hurt Tino so far. He was even taking measures to make him more comfortable. He gave him a bed, food, and Berwald was even helping to heal Tino's wounds.

Perhaps this was actually a turn of luck? Those things wouldn't dare come after Tino while being guarded by a dragon. What were they, anyway? And why were they after him?

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**And where the heck do I come up with this stuff?**

**I think I should mention that I am using Western style dragons, which often have a few human-like features, such as hands. (But with claws.) According to legends, they keep hordes of treasure and kill any knight/Viking foolish enough to get too close. Western dragons often have a weakness for gems and the instinctive desire to protect said gems. Yup...I think that's pretty much all you need to know. ;)**


	2. All He Really Wants

**I'm amazed at how many people actually had dragon!SuFin on the brain right before I started posting this. It's destiny, I tells ya! Thanks for all your kind words'n stuff so far. :)**

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Tino woke in a cold sweat. It took him a few moments to piece together that he was in the same gold strewn room he had fallen asleep in, and he let out a sigh as he buried his face into the warm bundle of pelts that was his bed, letting his taught muscles relax while he lay on his stomach.

The boy had a nightmare just now. He was running through a labyrinth made of mirrors while someone called his name, begging him to find them. He couldn't, though. The farther he searched, the more lost he became. Soon he wasn't trying to find the voice as much as running from the reflections in the walls. Every figure was him, but it wasn't him. There was something about each identical face that made him scared as they came out of the mirrors, running the same way he was, chasing him, reaching for him…

Tino shuddered. That was a weird one, but it didn't seem to mean anything so he merely tried to forget. It wasn't like there was anyone around to comfort him…

Something nuzzled his ear. An exhaled gust of humid warmth tousled Tino's hair, and he looked up to find himself staring up the snout of a terrifying monster.

"Oyaaaah!" he screamed and rolled away, only to tumble off the bed and onto a pile of jewel encrusted objects on the floor. It hurt, and he let out a pained groan as he tried to get up. His ankle blared with dull pain when he tried to use it, making him fall back down.

"Tino?" a familiar slightly worried voice asked. Oh yeah…Berwald. That was Berwald's snout. The dragon appeared above him, looking at the human lying pathetically on his back. A blue tail wrapped around Tino's middle and hoisted him into the air and off the valuables.

"I-I'm sorry!" he whimpered when he couldn't feel the ground anymore. "Did I damage any of your treasure? I really didn't mean to! I swear!"

Berwald didn't even glance down. He set the human back on the bed of pelts gently. Far more gently than Tino would expect from a giant fire breathing beast. "Y'okay?" He asked.

"Uh…yeah. Just a few new bruises are all," Tino nodded slowly, rubbing his arm. It didn't appear Berwald was angry about a human touching his things.

The dragon caught the look of confused relief. He motioned to the glittering room. "I don't mind. You are part of my treasures, you can touch them."

Of course. Tino was no little than a pair of amethysts to him, wasn't he? Sighing, he hugged his good leg up to his chin and tried not to be too depressed about his fate as an object. "Sorry about screaming. You surprised me."

Berwald hummed. "You woke up scared."

"It was bad dream, is all." Tino admitted. He looked away, unable to compete with the intense stare he was receiving. This left him open to another nuzzle, though, and he froze as Berwald rubbed Tino's cheek with his snout, almost like he was trying to comfort him. He was…wasn't he? All the stories Tino had heard since he was little were about fire breathing monsters that cared for nothing but treasure and blood. But if Tino were just another gem in his massive horde, then why go through all this trouble? Why not rip Tino's eyes out of his head instead? Not that Tino would ever ask, in fear of giving the dragon that idea, but it puzzled him to no end as to why the creature was behaving like this.

The rest of the day was rather mundane. Being trapped in a dragon's cave was kind of boring, if not for all the shiny things to look at. Carefully, the human tested his ankle to find it was feeling a bit better. It was less of a sharp twisting pain and more like dull throbbing when he put pressure on it. With the help of a silver cane found in the heaps of gold, he was able to walk around a bit enough to go to the bathroom outside under Berwald's constant supervision. The cave was located on the side of a steep mountain with a great view of the ocean beyond a wide green forest. It was a beautiful sight, but troubling. Even when Tino's bruised ankle healed, he wouldn't be able to climb this himself. A sinking feeling in his gut accompanied the realization that escape would not be easy.

Sometime later, the dragon left to get food. Tino sat on the rocks at the mouth of the cave and smelled the fresh wind fanning his face. If he opened his mouth, he could vaguely taste a hint of sea salt from the ocean. The midday sun was warm and refreshing after being in such a dark place for so long. He wondered if this would be the only view he would ever have of the world stretching onward in front of him for miles, yet so out of reach. He didn't want to be an old man trapped on this same cliff years from now.

"Why so melancholy, little one?"

Tino was cut off from his thoughts and looked around, but saw nobody who could have said that. Berwald wasn't around, and even if he were, that wasn't the dragon's deep voice. This one was lighter and sweeter, like a child.

"Hello?" he called apprehensively with his cane gripped in his hand. A flutter of wings fanned his face when a little red bird landed on a rock not too far away. Its belly was yellow, and its beak and legs were white. The most striking thing about it was its bright purple eyes contrasting heavily with its crimson feathers.

"Hello!" it chirped.

Tino stared at it for a bit before giving a sigh. "First a talking dragon, and now a talking bird? I think I've gone mad."

The bird laughed, like a quick light chuckle mixed with a tweet. "No, no. You are perfectly sane, little one. What's this about a dragon?"

Well, if Tino was going to hear animals talking than he might as well talk back. He had nothing else to do at the moment, so he might as well. "There is a dragon that lives in this cave. He keeps me here as part of his loot," the boy explained.

The bird hopped a little closer. "Really, now? How odd!" It was apparently trusting enough to fly up onto Tino's shoulder where its tiny talons locked onto his shirt. "Why would a dragon do something like that?"

"Apparently he thinks my eyes are gems. I mean, I know they are different, but they are just eyes! Everyone seems to think there's something wrong with them." Tino huffed and crossed his arms. "Like I'm a freak or something…"

"I'm sorry," the bird said. "It must be hard."

"Yes, and now they have landed me here."

"Would you like to go home?"

"Of course. But it's not like I can climb this alone, and the dragon would probably stop me, anyway."

"What if I helped you?"

Tino blinked at the little creature and it flitted to his other shoulder. He could swear he saw a grin on its beak. "Help me? How? No offense, but I don't think your wings could carry me…"

"This is true," the bird sighed. "We will just have to find another way, da?"

Tino was about to answer when he heard the sound of Berwald's return. The dragon scaled the cliff easily with its claws, climbing onto the ledge from above with strong legs and a slithering tail for balance. In his mouth he had something wrapped in cloth about as big as a person's head, and Tino really hoped that wasn't the case. Berwald was careful not to knock the human off the ledge, who stood up with the help of his cane at his return. The beast motioned with a quick toss of its head for Tino to come inside with him. He quickly gave a look to his right to find that there was no little bird perched there anymore, but a small red skinned violet eyed lizard. It flicked its yellow tongue before darting off faster than the blink of an eye. It disappeared between the crack of two rocks, and Tino was left to wonder what that was all about. Obviously, it wasn't any average bird…or lizard…or whatever it was. If it was magic, then perhaps it could help him get home, after all.

Tino obeyed the dragon and limped his way inside behind him. When they entered the treasure room, he found the dragon lying comfortably on the bed of pelts. Berwald was unwrapping the bundle, and now that it wasn't in his mouth, he could speak.

"Come."

Eager to please, Tino came forward. He was standing in front of the bed when the last layer of cloth was removed to reveal something brown and crusty underneath. It also smelled heavenly, and Tino knew what it was.

"Bread!" he exclaimed in surprise and picked up the large loaf. It was still warm, meaning it was fresh. "How on earth did _you_ get _bread_? You didn't ransack a village, did you?"

"For bread?" Berwald's right brow moved up slightly in an amused manor. "'Course not. Eat."

The question of where it came from was forgotten as Tino broke the bread and took a bite. If only he had some butter and jam, this would be perfect! Also wrapped in the cloth with the bread was a bit of cooked bird meat. It had seasonings on it, too, and was also still warm from the fire. He desperately wanted to know where this came from, but Berwald wouldn't say. He ignored the question in favor of watching Tino eat.

When the human had eaten his fill, there was still half the loaf of soft bread left to be wrapped for later. He was full, and he was suddenly tired. Berwald gently ushered Tino to his side with his tail when he saw Tino yawn. The boy was a bit unsure at first, but when he carefully rested against Berwald's warm belly, the dragon didn't mind. In fact, Berwald curled up around him and rested his head on the boy's lap, also appearing ready to rest.

This was the closest he'd ever been to the beast, and he wasn't about to waste this opportunity. Tino stuck out his hand and brushed it against the dragon's blue head experimentally. Berwald only twitched, but he didn't object. Feeling bolder, Tino let his hand lay flat against the other's brow and reveled at the feeling of touching real dragon scales. They weren't as hard as the stiff plates he imagined, but actually kind of soft. Not to say they didn't feel tougher than leather, but it was not what he expected. He ran his hand over them, feeling how they cascaded into one another, a tiny smile working its way into Tino's lips. His hand traveled up Berwald's long white horns atop his head that pointed behind him. They weren't exactly sharp now that he was up close enough to see them so well. Was he the only person to ever be this close to a dragon and live?

He went back to stroking the dragon's long neck and was startled when it started to vibrate. Was Berwald growling? Had he touched where he wasn't supposed to? …No…he was…purring? Dragons could purr? Tino had to stifle a laugh as he went back to petting the beast that was enjoying his touch. Berwald moved slightly, just so Tino could have better access to the smooth yellow underside of his neck. He must have really trusted him to show his most vulnerable side. Tino gave him a little scratch under the chin, and Berwald practically melted onto his lap.

This fearsome creature of power and strength was a big soft cuddly kitten on the inside. Who knew? Perhaps he had Berwald pegged all wrong. He was a gentle giant, not a killing machine. Tino ended up relaxing in the dragon's hold as he stroked his head, basking in the soothing warmth of his unlikely companion. His eyes closed and he drifted to sleep.

OOO

Another nightmare woke him up. When Tino's eyes shot open, he was still curled up with Berwald on the bed of pelts. The dragon was fast asleep, his long breaths slow and rhythmic, unaware of how shallow Tino's were.

It was the same dream. A maze of mirrors where his reflections chased him towards a voice calling his name. This time the voice sounded familiar, though from where Tino couldn't place. He sighed and told himself it was just a dream before carefully untangling himself from Berwald's tail (which had wrapped around him while they slept) and walking to the entrance of the cave. He just needed a bit of fresh air to clear his head.

Tino set his cane down and took a seat on one of the larger rocks just outside the mouth of the cave. The stars were peeking out through clouds that had gathered in the sky, hardly enough to illuminate anything at all. It was the silence that was so noticeable, though. Dark and immeasurably quiet. A perfect place to think.

It was about time Tino started to ponder his situation. Not that he hadn't been, but there was something confusing about Berwald that kept his thoughts from settling on the despair he probably should have felt. It didn't feel like the prison he imagined when he first learned of the dragon's desire to keep him. Berwald was too caring. Every action, every touch. This much care surely wouldn't go into just one more pair of jewels in his huge collection, would it? Berwald wouldn't cuddle up with a diamond necklace or bejeweled crown. He wasn't paying the rest of his horde this kind of attention, or any attention for that matter. The dragon had intricately shaped gold and pearl encrusted prizes, but his eyes stayed on the human. Simple amethysts couldn't be worth this much to him, could they? He had countless more littering the floor.

_Never found something like you before. Beautiful…_

Tino felt his ears grow hot as he remembered the way Berwald had said that. Was he really talking about Tino's eyes?

The boy sighed and leaned on his palms, looking to the dark ocean reflecting whatever light it could off its tiny rolling waves far away. There was so much distance between here and anything Tino had ever known. It was a dark shade of gloomy blue for miles...

It dawned on him that maybe, just maybe…Berwald was lonely. That would explain why he was so content to have Tino around. It seemed kind of silly to think dragons could ever be lonely when they cared for nothing but their treasures, but it was the only reasonable explanation Tino had for Berwald's un-dragonlike behavior. Why else would he go to such lengths to-

Something yanked the boy back sharply. He wanted to cry out in fright, but something clasped hard over his mouth and stifled his shriek. He felt his body being grabbed, his arms and legs made immobile as he was lifted off his feet, and three shadowy forms were surrounding him. They were silent, their clothes and skin jet black, and Tino didn't need any light to know they had no faces.

It was _them_.

Tino kicked and fought to get free, but the apparition's grips were bruising. They quickly descended the rocky mountain cliff as if they could float down its steep side while holding him up and keeping his mouth shut. The boy panicked as he was taken away, unable to do anything to stop these terrifying beings from finishing what they started back at his cabin. Finally, after a struggle that left Tino's cheeks throbbing, he was able to lurch his head away from the dark hand over his mouth just long enough to let out a piercing scream. Even when his mouth was covered again, it echoed hauntingly over the cliffs and broke the silence of the night. The beings continued on their path towards the black forest, Tino on the verge of giving up to catch his breath.

Before they could make it under the canopy of leaves and pine, an angry roar answered Tino's cry for help. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up from primal dread at the sheer power that roar contained and his heart stopped beating until it was over. The sound of rocks clattering to the ground behind them and quick heavy footfalls was the only warning the apparitions had before the huge dragon was before them, cutting them off from their escape. Berwald's fiery blue eyes held pure rage as he let out a feral growl that made Tino's captors drop him. The pain of landing on his tailbone was nothing compared to the terror he felt for the monstrous beast so contrasted to the gentle giant from before.

Though the dark beings were mindless, they seemed to know that they couldn't go on without defeating the dragon. They also poised to attack fearlessly, despite being a fraction of the dragon's size. They soundlessly lurched forward as a group and Berwald lashed at them with his powerful forelegs. He hit one, making it fly back and lie mangled on the ground for a moment before coming back together and rejoining the fight. No matter where or how hard he hit, the beings would come back without injury. They lashed back, landing their marks on Berwald's soft underbelly a few times and making him roar with pain. Tino sat frozen on the ground until he heard the dragon's voice, filled with fierce desperation and urgency, aimed at him.

"GET BACK!" he yelled. The boy wouldn't dare do otherwise and got to his feet, doing his best to run on a bad ankle and shaking nerves.

The adrenaline helped cover the pain until he had run up to the boulders that marked the base of the steep mountain cliff. There was nowhere else to go, and he turned around just in time to see a plume of hot yellow flame illuminate the battle. Instantly, the apparitions recoiled. The fire ignited the ground, casting clashing shadows on the tree trunks behind them. Berwald chased the shadows as they hurried to get away, roaring and snarling on their heels.

"His eyes are MINE!" he hissed. "Do you hear?! MINE!" Another fire ball left his mouth, hitting one of the apparitions square in the back. It disintegrated on contact and another caught fire as well. They died silently as Berwald's paw came down on the last one, pinning the squirming thing to the ground, and roared angrily in its face, his tail whipping side to side. "Freeze in Hel for _daring_ to steal from me!" With that, a final stream of flames destroyed it. All three were gone without a trace.

Tino had his body pressed into the wall behind him, his breath fast and heart beating like a drum in his ears. Was it over? Fire still burned in small patches, but it was suddenly quiet save for the dragon's heavy breathing. Berwald looked to Tino and the human flinched, nearly falling over on account of his trembling legs, violet eyes wide and petrified while they stayed pinned to the one with smoke coming out of his open maw. In all his life, Tino had never been so scared.

As the dragon drew nearer, stepping through smoldering embers casting an eerie glow from below, the boy shook harder, fearing he would be next. After a display like that, he had forgotten the one that brought him food and dressed his wounds. All he saw was the beast before him, claiming him, not caring for Tino at all. These were his true colors.

Amethysts were all he really wanted, after all.

* * *

**Fun fact: Hell (or Hel) in Norse culture isn't a sea of fire, but an endless plain of ice. In my opinion, freezing for an eternity doesn't sound as bad as burning for an eternity. Both are horrible, though.^^;**


	3. Not Even Human

When Berwald lay down in the middle of his treasure room so Tino could climb off his back, the boy immediately went to the bed and pulled a pelt over himself. His ankle hurt, his hands were shaking, and he just wanted to block out everything for five minutes. All of this was too much. The fading adrenaline rush was aching. The gravity of his situation was dismal. Tino would give anything to go back to the simple life he led in his cottage right about now. The beast nudged him with his nose from outside the furry cocoon, and out of his jumpiness, Tino flinched and curled even more in on himself.

"You alright?" Berwald asked. His terrifying anger and dominance from minutes before was gone and replaced with concern.

It was a tad unsettling how fast he could change his demeanor. Honestly, Tino didn't know what to think of his captor anymore. At times, he was gentle and caring. Other times, he was ferocious and possessive. He was a dragon. Tino felt foolish to be surprised when he acted like one.

"Won't let them have you," Berwald assured when the other didn't answer. Tino felt the bed shift as he lay down with the boy in much the same way they had been, but Tino still wouldn't come out from hiding. "Safe."

Yes, Tino knew he was safe. Berwald had shown that just now when he protected him from the faceless creatures that attacked for the second time. They were coming back, and if they were willing to take on a dragon just to get to the human, then they would probably be coming back again. They had tracked him all the way up the mountain, which meant that Tino probably wasn't safe anywhere. Except here, that is, in this dragon's cave. Tino was stuck, trapped, unable to leave even if he wanted to. His heart sunk as he realized his fate had been sealed.

A pair of gems was all he was destined to become.

After a pause, Berwald spoke again. "Why do they want you?"

"…I don't know," Tino murmured. He'd been asking himself that, but there wasn't much he could think of. Usually people were trying to get rid of him, not steal him.

The dragon gave it a moment of thought. "Could they want your eyes, too?"

Tino let out a heavy sigh. "That could end up being the only thing valuable about me."

Another pause passed before Tino felt the cover over him being tugged down. "Come out, Tino. Something wrong?"

The Finn couldn't stop the flickering fire light of the echoing room from flooding his eyes. It was only then that he found his vision blurry, and he rubbed them before tears could fall. He hated the unpredictability of this dragon. He hated being in the dark to everything that was happening to him. And most of all, he hated being only what people thought of his cursed eyes. His whole life, he was nothing but an outcast. Now he wasn't even human. "Wh…why do you care, Berwald? What do you get out of this, exactly?"

The dragon looked a little stumped. "I want you to be okay."

"But why?" The boy was desperate for even the tiniest hint that he was wrong.

"Because you are mine."

"I am, or my eyes?"

The dragon blinked. "It is…the same."

Tino felt a pang of despair at that. His heart was breaking. He was going to spend the rest of his life with this beast, as nothing more than a object. "So you don't distinguish me from any other gem in your horde?" he asked quietly.

The dragon shook his head and nuzzled his cheek. "You are my favorite gem. The prettiest. That is why nobody else can have you."

Tino heard enough. Was that supposed to cheer him up? No, it sounded like insanity. It was greed. Of course! It was stupid to think any different of a dragon. The strange behavior was most likely obsession for the 'treasure' he thought Tino was. The boy turned over and faced away, feeling a tear track across his cheek. Berwald noticed it sparkle in the torch light before the boy's face had disappeared from his vision.

"Why do you cry?" he asked. "Is that not enough to make you happy?"

Berwald just didn't understand. That was something Tino knew, at least, and he couldn't have too many ill feelings for someone that was more clueless than wicked. Tino didn't answer and simply lifted the blanket over his head again. He was done with this. There was no explaining such human things to a monster that had no equivalent. There was no use in humoring himself if all Tino could be was an object for his amusement. He felt like he shouldn't be caring so much about what a dragon thought. There were more pressing matters at hand, like figuring out why Tino was being hunted by the faceless ghouls of the night.

There was a low rumble, almost like thunder, that came from the dragon above. "Fine," he said bluntly. The bed shifted until the dragon's presence wasn't there, and the heavy footfalls went towards the exit. "I will be on guard." It was obvious by the tone of his voice and the atmosphere that Berwald was irritated, if not mad. Great, just what the boy needed. His only protector was annoyed with him. It might only be a matter of time before Berwald got bored of Tino and didn't care for him at all. When that happened, Tino didn't want to think about it.

The boy was alone now. The only sound was the crackle of a torch here and there and the shuffle of cloth when he moved. If he closed his eyes and imagined hard enough, he almost felt like he was back at home in his cottage. He was alone there, too. As he tried to go back to sleep after such a frightening experience, a wandering thought entered his mind, like a cruel joke. This really wasn't much different from being at home, after all. No matter where he was, Tino would always be alone. And right when he thought he was actually making a friend…

OOO

The next morning, Tino silently ate the rest of the bread from the day before as breakfast. It wasn't as fresh, but it was edible. He still wondered where it came from, but it wasn't like he could ask. His caretaker was as quiet as he was. In fact, Berwald was aloof. He spent most of his time at the mouth of the cave while Tino practiced walking on his ankle. After the exertion from last night, it went back to being incredibly sore and Tino eventually gave up. The silver walking cane was his crutch as he finally got the courage to go outside. It wasn't so much of his fear of being spirited away again as it was his uneasiness of Berwald.

The dragon sat on his folded paws and didn't seem to take notice when Tino came to his side. He watched the scenery in a dazed way, like he wasn't entirely there. Perhaps after standing guard all night, he was tired. And if he were tired and still mad, he could also be grumpy. A grumpy dragon was not a pleasant thing.

Sometime around noon, the rain started to fall. It made everything seem gray and lifeless. It collected in little pools just outside the cave's mouth where the two sat in mutual silence, an awkward air floating around them and forbidding them to speak. There was nothing to talk about. Nothing they wanted to, anyway. The only sound was the rain and Berwald's steady breathing.

Tino leaned against the cave wall and started to make a list in his head. Whenever he was in a bad situation, he always made lists. They could be of anything, and it helped take his mind off troubling thoughts and impossible circumstances. Right now, he was making a list of positives. If he was going to ever come to terms with his imprisonment, he had to try and stay positive. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to look forward to.

He had a great view from up here, at least. That was number one. Number two was if Berwald went back to being a nice dragon, then there was someone to talk to. Sure, he tended to say little, but it was better than nothing. Three: he wouldn't have to hunt for his food anymore if Berwald kept bringing it.

Speaking of food, Tino was starting to get hungry again. There wasn't anything else in the cave to eat, so he would have to ask Berwald. Oh, but he really didn't want to…he was afraid of what might happen. The beast was so unpredictable that literally anything could come of it. He didn't know if Berwald had been waiting this whole time for Tino to speak, or if he didn't want the quiet to break. Most of the time he was gentle when it came to his prized possession, but there was a lot of uncertainty at the moment. Tino didn't even know what the dragon was mad about. It was obvious that something was still bothering him.

The boy stole a glance at the dragon to judge what he could from his current demeanor, only to find that Berwald was already looking at him. They locked eyes, neither daring to move or speak. What was going on in that dragon's head? Was this good or bad? Tino didn't know what to do, so his stomach acted for him. A whiny growl broke the silence and Tino couldn't help but feel his face flush in embarrassment.

"U-uh…"

"Hungry." It wasn't a question, but an acknowledgement. At least it didn't sound angry. Tino nodded and the dragon stood up on all fours. His blue eyed gaze still didn't leave the other. "I'll get food. Stay here."

"Wha- You mean you are just leaving me here?" Tino asked in surprise. A little panic welled up in his throat when Berwald confirmed. "But what if those things come back again? You won't be here to stop them!"

"The faceless ones are shadows. It is day, they cannot come out until night," the dragon explained.

"How do you know? I've only seen them die in fire."

""They didn't need to catch fire, they simply vanish when there is too much light."

Tino wasn't quite sure, but then again, Berwald was much closer to the battle than him. He probably knew their weakness after fighting them twice. The evidence of the apparition's ferocity was clear as day on the dragon's freshly scratched and marked yellow belly. The injuries from the first fight were already almost gone. No wonder he didn't care for aid when he healed so quickly.

The boy stepped back as the dragon walked into the rain. It bounced off his water proof blue scales, making them gather a wet shin, and the dragon only looked back once before starting his climb up the cliff wall. His slithering tail and a few falling pebbles were the last things Tino saw before he was completely alone. It was nice to be able to breathe easier with all the tension in the cave suddenly gone. The boy went back to his listing, but hardly anything else came to mind.

A few minutes later, Tino went inside. He couldn't hear the rain as he crawled into bed in a tired heap. It was unsettling being out there all alone. Besides, the boy hardly slept at all last night. Perhaps he could take a nap while he waited for his lunch. There wasn't much else to do, otherwise. He snuggled up with his cheek pressed into soft rabbit fur and closed his eyes.

"_Tino…Tiiiino…"_

Not this again! Just how many times was he going to have this dream?

"_Tino…Tino!"_

Wait a second…there were no mirrors. The boy was still in bed, and the voice calling to him echoed off the cave walls. Was he really dreaming?

"_Please come out, little one!"_

Tino sat up abruptly in his bed. He wasn't asleep, he was actually hearing that familiar voice this time! It was coming from outside the cave, so he quickly grabbed his silver cane and hobbled as fast as he could, ready to solve this haunting mystery. The voice kept calling until he called back. "I'm coming!"

Upon being outside again, Tino found nothing. He took a few steps into the rain for a moment to look around, but there was nobody there. The voice had stopped, and Tino was only getting himself wet. With a sigh, he turned around to go back in.

"Hello, Tino." The boy jumped back when he was confronted with a very tall man standing in the mouth of the cave, nearly knocking him over in shock. He stood there giving a youthful kindly smile, but the one thing Tino was the most shocked to see was the color of his eyes. They were purple, just like Tino's. The man held an arm under his chest and gave a small bow to go with his greeting. "It is good to see you again."

There was something absurdly familiar about this person, but Tino couldn't say he'd ever seen him before in his life. Not just his voice, but his appearance. "Who-who are you? How did you get here?"

The man gave a small laugh, like a light chuckle. He took a step aside and motioned for Tino to come forward. "You will catch a cold if you stay in the rain. Come, I will tell you all you want to know where it is dry."

Tino did as the other requested and sat down to get off his ankle. He stared up at the other, letting the silver cane rest to his side, waiting for some answers. The man stayed standing, looking the Finn over just as the Finn was looking him over.

"Do you remember the little birdie from yesterday?" the man asked. Tino nodded slowly.

"Yes, it talked… Oh!" Now Tino knew why the voice sounded so familiar! "Could you be that red bird?"

"Correct!" the man clapped happily. "But I am not a bird now, am I?"

"No, you aren't. How are you suddenly human?"

"I've always been human," was the answer. "I just take different forms. You may call me Ivan."

"Wow…so you are a shape shifter?"

"Exactly. My wings will be big enough to carry you after all! Do you still wish to be free?"

Tino nodded, then sadly sighed when he remembered last night. "I do, but…I can't."

Ivan's expression turned inquisitive. "Why is that?"

"There are these scary creatures after me… The dragon doesn't just trap me here, he protects me from them. They will snatch me up the second I leave, and I don't know how far I would have to go for them to not find me."

"Ah, so if you had another form of protection, you would leave?"

Tino gave it a quick thought. "Well, yes…I would. But I don't know anything that could match a dragon that would be willing to protect me."

"Look no further!" Ivan beamed and pointed to himself.

"You?" the boy raised an eyebrow. "Are you really stronger than a dragon?"

"Of course."

"And…you would actually want to protect me? Why?"

"Because we are one in the same." Ivan leaned forward and widened his eyes, making their color shimmer. It looked odd the way he did that with his childish grin. "Pray tell, little one, do you know why your eyes are that hue, like mine?"

"No, I don't. The dragon seems to think they are amethysts, but I don't know how I could have been born with rocks for eyes."

The man chuckled. "Actually, the dragon is correct. Your eyes are nothing more than glassy amethysts and you use them to see with the help of very powerful magic. Also," he leaned in closer, close enough for Tino to feel his breath. Oddly, it had no smell. Ivan's voice dropped to a whisper, as if there were others around to hear his secret. "You were not born with them! And neither was I." He came away, practically giggling at the look of amazement on Tino's face. Tino's eyes were _actually_ amethysts? But why? Upon asking, Ivan merely wagged his finger. "Now, now. It is your right to find out if you come with me, little one."

Tino knew he should be jumping at this chance of escape. He should be overjoyed to finally be in the presence of the answers he sought, but something held him back. He stood, but he didn't take Ivan's outstretched gloved hand yet. A strange feeling nagged him in the back of his mind, like this was too good to be true. Before Tino could swallow that feeling and take the hand, there was the sound of scratching and falling pebbles through the heavy pattering rain. Ivan heard it, too, and he turned around just in time to see Berwald's return.

The dragon climbed down from the cliff wall and onto the ledge before looking inside his cave to see the stranger with Tino. The boy panicked and quickly dashed behind Ivan like a frightened rabbit, but Ivan held his ground. In fact, that smile never left his face, even when the dragon dropped the clothed bundle in his mouth and began to growl. The smile only grew wider.

"Greetings," he said without any hint of fear. "I believe you have something of mine, da?"

* * *

**Terra uses **_**Cliffhanger!**_** Was it effective?**

**What is Ivan planning? What is the secret to Tino's eyes? Will Berwald be able to protect Tino? Do these pants make me look fat?! Stay tuned!**


	4. What You Are Inside

**I really shouldn't be up this late.**

* * *

The dragon lowered his head and narrowed his eyes dangerously, flicking his tongue like an angry serpent. "Get away from Tino," he warned. Ivan did little more than shake his head.

"Tino is not yours," he said in an unnervingly calm voice. "I have come to take back what you have stolen from me, and if you value your life, you will let me have him." Tino wasn't sure what to make of this. Ivan was claiming him now? Why? He wasn't sure if he should expect any different anymore at this point.

"If you value yours, you will leave!"

"Temper, temper," Ivan grinned as if he were amused. "You dragons are all the same. I suppose there is no helping your nature, is there?" Tino backed away as he noticed that Ivan was starting to shift and change. His body morphed smoothly into a new form resembling Berwald's, though it was blood red with a tan belly. It was like a mirror image, and he copied Berwald's stance. "I guess we will have to work this out the only way you will understand."

Ivan suddenly lounged at Berwald. The blue dragon turned just in time for his shoulder to absorb most of the impact before turning his head and biting at the red dragon's neck. Tino yelped and hobbled backwards until he was a safer distance away and watched the fight in horror. There were ear piercing roars and bone shattering blows exchanged between the two, but no matter how much damage Berwald dealt to his opponent, it didn't seem to matter. Ivan took a slash to the belly like nothing. In fact, he was actually laughing! Berwald held his own for a while before getting knocked to the slippery ground and backing up a few paces to catch his breath.

Ivan and Berwald circled each other on the cliff ledge in the rain. Tino felt his heart pounding in his chest at the adrenaline from watching the two fearsome beasts. Every roar sent a chill through his body, and he felt trapped as he backed into the cave with no way out. All he could do was stay out of the way.

"His eyes are mine," Berwald hissed through labored breaths.

Ivan scoffed. "Typical. If you really care so much for those amethysts, then you can have them. All I want is Tino." That came as a surprise to both the Finn and the blue dragon. "If you give me the boy, I will give you your precious stones."

"What do you mean by that?" Tino asked in rising panic. "Y-you're going to take me, but _leave my eyes?_"

"Exactly." Ivan turned to gaze at the boy with his bright identical violet orbs. "Your eyes cause so much trouble for you, don't they? You can be so much more without them. I can give you new eyes, and a new life." The dragon's neck turned to look back at Berwald, who seemed rather lost. "As for you, wouldn't it be so much easier if your treasures didn't have to be fed and cared for? This deal will give everyone what they want. Tino will be free to go, and you will have the peace you had before this started. What do you say?"

Tino ran Ivan's proposition over in his head. Obviously the dragon would take it, but could Tino? Could Tino really give up his eyes? Ivan said he would get new ones, but would losing his old ones hurt? Would that pain be worth the freedom he would gain? He thought about what it would be like to walk through town without people staring and murmuring and to be without constant trouble befalling him wherever he went. What it would be like to have real friends, and even a family. To be more than an object or an outcast. Yes, he could take this deal. It could be his way out. It could be his salvation! The boy cleared his throat to give his answer.

"No…" Tino blinked and looked to Berwald who was staring at him with his fiery blue eyes. The blue dragon looked a little dazed, his stance not quite as confident as it had been, but he said his answer again firmly. "No."

"But why?!" Tino shook his head in disbelief.

"He can't have you," the dragon replied. "No deal."

Ivan lifted his head. "And why is that? What reason do you have for keeping the human? He only gets in the way of your prize."

"He's mine," Berwald positioned himself strongly. The uncertainty from just a moment ago was replaced with determination, the same kind Tino saw the night before during his fight with the shadow people. "He _is_ my prize." Tino didn't understand what he just heard. Wasn't Berwald being so possessive of his eyes the night before? Why was he suddenly saying it was Tino he wanted?

"Your prize? A human?" Ivan was just as perplexed as Tino. "He is nothing more than two amethysts to you. It would be like finding a diamond in the mud and wanting to keep the dirt caked on it! He is worthless to y-" The shape shifter was cut off by a feral growl.

"NO," Berwald barked angrily. "You cannot have him or his eyes, Tino is MINE!"

There was a tense moment before Tino heard a chuckle rumbled in Ivan's throat over the sound of the rain. It grew until he was laughing in an almost childish way, so unfitting of the massive form he was taking, finding amusement in something the other dragon had said. "Is that so? You actually value the human the same way you do his eyes? My, my, you are a strange one. To think you, a monster of greed, actually cares for another living thing…" Ivan's voice dropped spitefully. "_Pathetic._"

Berwald's anger flared. He roared as he pounced forward with teeth barred, making Tino take another step back in fear. This was exactly like the night before. Berwald was in a rage, ripping and clawing at his enemy in a flurry of blue scales and powerful claws, and Tino could do nothing but watch. Ivan responded with equal vigor, knocking Berwald nearly off the cliff with a powerful swipe of his crimson tail. He went to finish the job when Berwald opened his mouth, revealing a growing glow in the back of his throat. Fire shot from his mouth, aimed for Ivan's face, and the red dragon fell over backwards in an attempt to get away. A strangled pained yell told Berwald that it hurt him, so he quickly did it again. Ivan backed away and roared in retaliation, pushed back by the flame sizzling with falling rain. He didn't seem able to make his own fire.

Berwald had to breathe eventually. When the stream of flames stopped, he was surprised to find the menacing creature he was fighting had turned back into his pale human form, crouching to avoid the heat. "You are as much of a dragon as I am," Ivan spat as he stood back up. Thunder cracked at that moment like a foreboding omen, and a purple malicious aura surrounded him. "Doing all of this? For a human? Absurd! That form is too ill fitting for a wretched creature like you." There was a flash of lightning, and when the light cleared, Tino saw Ivan with his hand outstretched to Berwald, who was suddenly frozen where he stood. Something was happening to him while the thunder rolled through the sky. Ivan chanted something in a low mutter and the purple aura surrounding him glowed brighter with every word.

Tino gasped as the beast's scales shifted and changed. His body shrunk while his hind legs broke and bent in the opposite directions, his neck shortened, and his horns shriveled up until they weren't there. Berwald's body turned color, from blue to peach, and his snout flattened. His painful roar melted into a scream echoing off the cliff, and his new body fell onto the muddy ground in a heap. He didn't move for the first few seconds, just panting as Ivan let his arm drop and his spell was done. The Finn couldn't help but rub his eyes to see if what he thought he was seeing was true.

The dragon was now a man.

"Berwald?" Tino rushed to his side the best he could and dropped to his knees. The new man with bright blonde hair sticking to his face in the rain winced and looked up, and they locked eyes with each other for a long second. He looked so confused, so shocked, and Tino wondered if it was the same expression on his own face.

"There," Ivan said in one breath. He looked a bit drained, but he composed himself and walked forward. "That is much better, isn't it?" Berwald glared and struggled to get up, only to fall back down when his limbs moved so differently from how they were used to. Ivan grinned, his purple eyes laughing at the vulnerable body on the ground before him, and Tino shivered.

"W-what did you do?"

"I merely gave him a form that matches what he is inside," Ivan answered simply. "Weak, small, and pitiful."

"Get away," Berwald demanded, though his voice was no longer as booming as it had been. Ivan was unaffected.

"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" The man struggled again but with no avail. The moment he was able to shakily get onto his knees, he was pushed back down with Ivan's foot. He toppled onto his back and groaned in pain when he hit his head on the hard rocky ground.

"S-stop!" Tino stood up and got between them. "He's already been defeated; don't kick him while he's down!"

"Why do you care? Is seeing him with a human face changing the way you think of him? Remember, he imprisoned you."

"No, he…!" Tino shook his head and tried to come up with something to express his reasoning. Berwald fought so hard for Tino just now. Not for his eyes, but for him. There was something more to Berwald's actions than Tino first thought.

Ivan didn't give him time to explain. "He lost, so you are mine." The tall man gestured for Tino to come forth. "It is time for a new beginning. Isn't that what you want?"

After seeing Ivan's terrifying display of power, Tino no longer wanted to go with him…but it looked like he had no choice. He turned around to see Berwald reaching for him and saying his name, his fiery blue eyes the only recognizable feature from the beast he once was, once so fierce and powerful now pleading and desperate. Tino wanted to go to him and make sure he was okay, but Ivan pulled him by the arm and led him away. He struggled to be free, but the shape shifter's grip was strong. Tino was right back where he started: in the hands of something far more powerful than he could ever hope to escape from on his own. He was getting sick of being so useless.

"Where are you taking me?" he demanded. "Where are we going?"

"Not too far," Ivan answered. Thunder rumbled a few miles away. "You will like it, little one. It is along the river, the exact place your eyes come from, and where they will return."

"T-Tino…" Berwald's weak voice called. Tino looked back just before losing sight of him. He felt growing sorrow inside him with every limped step he took away from the former dragon that was the only one that had ever cared.

OOO

It was cold. This was a chill like Berwald hadn't ever felt before. It bit his bones and wracked his body with shivers from the moment he woke up, drenched in the rain and laying on his side in a puddle. He vaguely thought back to just before he passed out, right after Tino left, and he opened his eyes to see the entrance of his cave. It was a lot bigger than he remembered.

The dragon shifted to get up, but something was wrong. When he looked down he realized he wasn't a dragon anymore. His blue scales were gone and replaced with squishy pale skin, which did nothing to keep him warm or keep out the rain. There were no claws on his hands, only thin nails. His legs bent in a different way than he was used to. He couldn't feel his tail. Berwald was human.

The man struggled to get up despite his fatigue. He didn't know how long he had been out, but it couldn't have been too long. A wave of dizziness hit him when he sat upright. He moved his legs experimentally before attempting to use them. When that didn't work, he got on his hands and knees and was able to shuffle forward in a crawl. He felt completely helpless, which wasn't something a dragon often felt. When he finally made his way out of the cold rain and into his dry cave, it was all he could do to lift himself onto two feet using the rock wall to lean on and hobble inside.

Berwald found his home empty. Utterly bare. It was no different from walking into a vacant cave, even though his ceiling still glittered with his once precious loot covering the floor in heaps. That proud feeling he had when he gazed at his wonderful treasures was nowhere to be found. It was like he lost everything, from his possessions to his own self, all because the one thing he wanted the most was gone.

The man wobbled across the floor until he stumbled into his pelt bed. The fur felt softer than it ever had before, and he curled up in the covers with a long sigh and waited for them to warm his bare body. None of this was enough to comfort him, though. All he felt was dread and remorse.

During the fight, Berwald had made a revelation. This whole time, he focused on Tino like he never had any of his other jewels. The dragon never had a favorite before, and he spent a great deal of time wondering what it was about the human that was so special. Why was it so important to keep him alive and safe? Why was it so rewarding to see him happy? Keeping Tino wasn't like keeping any of his other treasures. Rare jade didn't need to be fed. Silver didn't speak or walk. Tino could laugh and smile, and Berwald liked it when he did that. Tino's touch made Berwald feel warm like none of the other jewels in his collection could.

Objects were all he ever knew to bring him happiness. The dragon would look over his horde of glitter and gold and feel the same pleasure in the sight he always did. But looking back to Tino, those feelings shifted and changed. He didn't know what to make of it. He realized he didn't quite know what to make of Tino, either.

Ever since he obtained the human, he wasn't sure what was going through his own mind anymore. He was fixated on those hypnotic amethysts. Every trinket was only important because of the quantity of other trinkets he owned, like how a grain of sand is insignificant unless it is with thousands more like it, but it felt like Tino wasn't quite like the other things he owned. Was that it, then? Was Tino so different that he wasn't part of his horde? But Berwald had the desire to keep and protect him like the rest of it. Every sapphire and bracelet had his undying protection, and he would fight to the death over the ownership of each silver coin. That is how it was, and whether or not it made much sense, that is how it would always be. Berwald was a dragon. It was in his nature.

However, he was surprised to find the sheer amount of emotion that overwhelmed him when his amethysts were stolen by the shadows in the night. It was like nothing he'd ever experienced. Berwald always got mad when someone was foolish enough to think they could get away with swiping his treasures, but this was different. This wasn't just anger, this was something else that clawed its way into his throat and latched on like icy fingers. It was…fear. Berwald hadn't felt fear in a very long time. His reaction was strong, and it didn't end until the apparitions were gone and Tino was safe in the cave again.

Then Tino refused to smile. Nothing Berwald said or did would help. In fact, it only seemed to make him worse. Berwald had gotten frustrated and left. Why was he so worked up over a gem?

The shape shifter's words finally answered his questions. When he offered to separate the two, Berwald couldn't imagine those amethyst eyes meaning anything to him. He found himself repulsed at the idea. When he imagined the shape shifter walking off with Tino, Berwald began reliving the same rage he felt the night before when the shadow people attacked. He realized then that it wasn't Tino's eyes he wanted to care for and protect.

It was Tino. It was little Tino, who was so mysterious and coy, who's face lit up with wonder when he saw something new, who slept with his mouth slightly parted to let out relaxed warm breaths, who's laugh the night before had resonated sweetly through the cave and within the dragon's heart. It was simply Tino.

Berwald wanted Tino.

Berwald…_loved_ Tino.

The realization came too late, and Berwald's heart broke when he saw Tino being taken away. The boy had looked to him for help, but Berwald was powerless. Now here he was, a shell of his former self, grieving over what he never knew he had within him. Dragons weren't supposed to fall in love with anything but treasure. His unnatural love for Tino was his downfall.

…No…no, that wasn't right. That didn't feel right to him at all. The will and determination was still inside him. The need to protect and defend was stronger than ever. Even as he was, as pathetic and weak as his fragile human body stood compared to his former glory, he still felt the need to rise and take action. He never felt so driven before. The only thing holding him back was his human body.

Yet Berwald still felt like a dragon.

The man took a deep breath as he made his decision. The covers were thrown back and he got to his feet. It took a lot of concentration, but he was starting to get the hang of walking with new legs by the time he reached a specific pile of gleaming metal on the other side of the cave. He reached down and pulled on a ruby encrusted hilt, and with a sharp tug, the buried sword came free. Its sharp edges and smooth metal was like a mirror when Berwald brought it to his face. A man with sharp features stared back at him; his glowing eyes the only thing holding back the fire burning within.

Berwald's love for Tino wasn't a weakness. No, it was the exact opposite. Tino was Berwald's ultimate strength. For him, he would scale a mountain. For him, he would face an army. Not for any old jewel, not for a pair of amethyst eyes, but for the one whose smile was Berwald's world.

For nothing but Tino.

* * *

**I feel there should be battle drums playing as people read the last part. **

**This story is quickly coming to the climax! Secrets will be revealed, and the two will face their ultimate tests of bravery, strength, and **_**loooooove**_**!**

**(There were a lot of people asking if Berwald was going to turn into a human at any part of the story, and now that he has, I feel like the next hot topic will be if he turns back into a dragon by the end. I will answer this question the same way I did the last one: WAIT AND SEE. ;D)**

**Thanks for the love and support, guys. I love you all.**


	5. First Impressions

**Life can be so needy sometimes.**

* * *

After days of wearing the same night clothes Tino had on when he left his home, he was finally given something fresh to wear. He stripped his soaking wet shirt and pants off in favor of the dry ones that were provided by Ivan when they reached their destination. The man had taken him through the rainy forest on his back as a big red wolf for hours until they reached the river he had been talking about. Running along its bank was a road, forgotten and unkempt, that led to a large abandoned mansion. The place was in disrepair and thick vines hid its walls under a layer of greenery like a blanket. Inside, it was dusty and chilled.

As Tino looked into a full length mirror, cracked and chipping in one corner, he couldn't help but feel uneasy. This place was utterly silent. It was as if the long halls and empty rooms were dead. There wasn't anyone in the place save for Tino and Ivan, who told him to come to the dining room once he had gotten dressed. The man wasn't at all the savior Tino had been hoping for. He was unnerving and unpredictable. The Finn wanted nothing more than to escape, but when he struggled to open a window or door, he found them secured by the twisting foliage outside. Vines crawling over the dusty glass panes were like prison bars, and the leaves were a veil. Berwald's cave felt homey compared to this.

Since the fight on the cliff, Tino's mind kept going back to the dragon. Was he okay, all the way up there, in a body that didn't belong to him? Tino couldn't help but be worried, and confused. It was the first time he had ever heard Berwald demand for anything but his eyes. He wanted _Tino_ now. Was that a good or bad thing? Ivan had mocked Berwald and called him pathetic for caring about something other than treasure. Perhaps to dragonkind he was, but to Tino, it was a wonderful improvement.

But why? What possible reason could Berwald have to value the mud around a diamond, as Ivan had callously put it? Every time Tino figured something out about the beast, it raised even more questions. Why did he even care?

Tino's head was starting to spin from it all, and all he wanted were some answers, which Ivan had promised to share with him at dinner. Despite finding the man unsettling and no longer wanting anything to do with him, the journey down the stairs couldn't be brisk enough on his still-pained ankle. Tino was going to throw the doors open and demand the truth, and he wasn't going to let Ivan push him around!

Right before Tino was about to give the heavy wooden doors separating him from his answers a mighty shove, it creaked open on its own. The boy wasn't expecting that and he fell forward, giving a short yelp before he hit the floor on his hands and knees. He came face to face with tall brown boots, and when he looked up at the one wearing them, Tino's resolve visibly crumbled.

"Careful, little one. We wouldn't want you to get any more damaged, would we?"

"Wh-what? Damaged?" Everything Ivan said felt like it had a double meaning.

"Your ankle," he said as he helped lift Tino off the floor by his arm. "It is a shame."

"Oh…" Did Ivan really care? Though he wore an expression of concern, it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"I ask that you stay off it for a while so that it heals quickly. Please, have some food. You must be hungry."

Tino was led to the table and sat down in front of, what he could only call, a feast. There was a roasted duck on a silver platter smothered in sweet smelling sauce, berry jam and hot rolls wrapped in silk cloth in a basket, small potatoes with butter and dill, and all other sorts of things he couldn't even dream of finishing on his own. Who made all of this? It couldn't have been Ivan. The two hadn't been here for more than ten minutes, and he didn't think there was anyone else here. The halls were too quiet. Such an impressive bounty was out of place in the otherwise run-down environment that lacked the same meticulousness.

"Eat," Ivan commanded. "You have to stay strong and healthy if you are to heal quickly." Well, Tino _was_ pretty hungry, and the sight and smell of all this food was making his mouth water. Ivan began taking food onto his white plate and eating it, so Tino had no reason to think it was poisoned.

It was delicious. The Finn hadn't ever tasted such savory meat, and the jam on the warm fluffy bread was so sweet and succulent that he nearly got cavities. He was planning on eating carefully and slowly, but after a few bites, he couldn't help himself. It really had been a long time since he last ate, and the meals Berwald gave him weren't nearly as diverse as this. Besides, Tino needed a distraction from the strange way Ivan watched him with a violet-eyed smile. Were Tino's eyes just as creepy? No wonder people stayed away from him if they looked anything like Ivan's.

That reminded the boy of his nagging questions, so he swallowed and asked. "You said…you know what my eyes are, and why I have them?"

Ivan nodded. "Of course. I made them."

Tino froze. "You…what?"

"I made mine, too, and several others over the years."

"Why? I mean, how…when?"

Ivan chuckled lightly and set his fork down. He didn't seem to be very hungry, for he didn't eat much. "There is much to be explained. I will start with this: You were born blind."

Tino nearly choked. "Wh-what?!"

"It is true. Your eyes were as white and blank as the moon when you opened them. Your parents were crushed, the poor things. They had so much expectation for you…"

"If I was born blind, then how can I see now?"

"A good question." Ivan leisurely took a drink of wine. Was he purposely delaying the answer in amusement of Tino's impatience? "As you may have noticed, I have the ability to transform myself into any form I please. I can also transform other things, like that dragon, and also those eyes of yours. They were once ordinary amethyst stones before I turned them into new eyes, all for you."

"So…you are saying that you replaced my eyes?" Ivan nodded with a childish grin as Tino touched his face just under his eyes. All this time, they were never actually his… "Why did you do that?"

"Because your parents _begged_ me for a cure to your blindness," the man answered. He put a hand over his heart as if he was touched. "I was passing through when I heard of their troubles, and I agreed to help. They wanted you to see and be a normal child, especially your mother."

"Wait, hold on," Tino interrupted. "My mother died in childbirth."

"Is that what they told you?"

Suddenly, Tino's world was being flipped upside-down. "If she didn't die in childbirth, then how did she?"

"Ah, well…" Ivan folded his hands on the table and looked up, as if trying to remember. "You see, everything I transform can never fully become what I want it to be. When I made your eyes, they could do everything but see. They are merely jewels, after all. I generously provided the spell that would make them fully functional." He paused. "Of course, magic like that comes at a small price…"

The boy didn't like the sound of that. He had since stopped eating and was gripping the arms of his chair until his knuckles turned white. No, Ivan better not be saying what he thought he was saying…

Ivan refused to say any more until Tino tensely asked what the price was. The man's smile didn't change at all, but the gleam in his eyes flickered as he rested his weight on his elbows comfortably and replied, "Your mother."

"…No… No, no…" Tino stood up, pushing his chair back by the back of his legs and making it screech across the floor. The echo bounced off the empty dim walls and inside him where it felt hallow. "That's not…there's no way you could have…that I've been using my eyes because…"

"Correct. Your mother gave her life so that you could see. She was a very generous woman, da?"

Tino didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to say, or even how to feel. His whole life he never knew of his mother's sacrifice. But it didn't make any sense! "I-I was abandoned by my father, though…Why would he agree to that if he didn't even want to keep me? That was his wife! Was my sight really worth that much to them?"

"Probably not. But they didn't know that until after they made the deal."

"You m-mean they didn't know?" Tino was breathless at this point. "You tricked them?"

"I would have told them if they had asked." Ivan's grin remained frozen in place while Tino felt rage building up inside him. Every calm word uttered from his mouth sent tremors down his spine. "Your parents loved you very much, though it seems your father could no longer bare the sight of you. Your eyes reminded him too much of his greatest mistake. Because of you, he killed his own wife."

"No, YOU killed her! You did this to me…you did this to THEM!"

Tino's blood boiled when Ivan nonchalantly picked up his fork and took another bite of duck from his plate. None of this mattered to him. The fact that he ruined Tino's entire life, subjected him to living on the streets since he was little, banished him to being an outcast, all of it…he didn't seem at all bothered while Tino was losing his sanity to the fact that everything he knew about himself was a lie! His own face felt sinful and soiled to him, to have his sight be granted by the blood of his own mother...

"Perhaps. But it doesn't change what they did. Your father has nobody left to blame but himself."

Something snapped within the Finn. He was staring down at the one that started all his problems, who refused to take the blame, who was actually _smiling_ while he recalled the incidents that brought Tino here, and Tino had enough. He had enough of the lies, of his curses, of being called a freak, of having no control over who or even _what_ he was. Tino's hands balled into fists. His feet moved swiftly, the pain of his ankle erased by the numbness he felt throughout him, save for the blinding rage that was projected onto his target at the end of the table, and like days spent hunting in the woods, he struck Ivan in the jaw. Or at least, he would have, if his arm hadn't been caught by a bruising shadow's grip.

"Temper, temper," Ivan shook his head. Tino yelled in frustration and surprise as he was yanked back by several hands on his body, clothes, and hair. It was the shadow people. Their silent forms pushed Tino back into his chair and held him there like unbreakable restraints. No matter how much he fought, they held fast. Honestly, he wasn't surprised that they worked for Ivan. "Careful with him. We don't want any more damage."

"Why are you doing this?" Tino hissed between clenched teeth. "What are you after? What do you want with me?!"

Ivan calmly got up from his seat and stood in front of Tino, who struggled to get free, but to no avail. He leaned down until they were eye to eye, the malice showing brightly in his icy violet orbs that reflected the Finn's own terrified face. "_Your body_." A cold hand touched Tino's cheek almost softly, trailing along his jaw, mapping out his features as Ivan stared. Tino tried to turn his head away, but the grip in his hair forced him still. "That face of yours will belong to me soon enough. My body grows old and tired, and every century or so, I need a replacement. When I rip those pretty little amethysts out of your head and replace them with mine, I will be reborn for another hundred years, and you will join the pebbles at the bottom of the river."

OOO

For three days, Tino stayed in his room. He was allowed to go anywhere, but the three shadow people followed him wherever he went. They blocked his attempts to escape, and they even forced him to eat. When Tino didn't go to the dining hall when Ivan requested, the food was sent to him. But the boy didn't want to eat. He was too depressed by the truth of his past, how the blood of his mother allowed him to see, how his fate was to be cast aside so that Ivan could play marionette with his body. Once again, Tino was an object.

At this point he hardly cared anymore. No, he refused to care. Caring would only make him even more depressed than he already was. He tried to shake it all away so he could focus out himself, but there was one care that remained. For some reason, he cared about Berwald.

The dragon _had_ been nice to him, after all. Even though Tino was his prisoner, he couldn't stop thinking about those final moments on the cliff. He said such strange things for a dragon. Berwald was a little two-faced, being greedy and possessive one minute and then gentle and even loving the next. Tino had to wonder what was going through the beast's head when he suddenly changed his mind about what he was defending. Was it a change of mind, or a change of heart?

The boy sighed. He knew he would probably never find out, seeing how he was doomed here in Ivan's clutches and Berwald was probably still stuck on the cliff. What did it matter, anyway? Whether the dragon wanted him or his eyes, it was still the same kind of greed, wasn't it? The only difference was that one would make him feel slightly better about himself. But he had to remind himself that he didn't care anymore, and that now, his only thoughts should be on escape.

Tino had wondered why Ivan didn't just take his body now and be over it. When he asked on the occasion that the shape shifter checked on him, Ivan smiled. "I don't want to be limping for one hundred years, do I?"

So that was why. Tino's ankle, which had been such a pain in the past few days, was actually saving him. Ivan couldn't do anything until Tino was in proper condition. In an attempt to help delay his fate further, he tried to make it worse. He was never one for self-harm, but in the situation he was in, it was the only way to delay his doom. However, the shadows stopped him before he could slam the door on his ankle. He tried other things, but every attempt failed. The shadows watched him at all hours of the day, never leaving, always silent. It was maddening not being able to do anything about any of this.

Eventually, the Finn gave up. He resigned to sitting in the corner and waiting for any more ideas to come to him. While he pondered, he watched the three dark forms watching him. They were peculiar beings…not seeming to have minds of their own, but they always tended to gather together. They were also different from each other, which Tino hadn't noticed before. Each was a different height and slightly different shape. He had to wonder if they were all separate beings and not just clones, perhaps even normal people at one point or another, transformed by Ivan's magic to do his bidding. It wouldn't be surprising, seeing what the scary man was capable of.

The shadow people were his only company in the dim mansion. To pass the time, he even talked to them. They probably didn't understand or weren't even listening, but Tino didn't care. Tino just wanted the galling silence to be gone. They weren't as scary now that the boy had gotten semi-used to their presence. Ivan was the one to be afraid of. These three were harmless at the moment.

"Have you ever tried salmiakii?" he questioned them quietly. As usual, they didn't make a sound. "I love it. There was a candy maker in a town I visited once who made really good salmiakki. That's where I had it for the first time. I'm pretty sure he was just trying to get rid of me from hanging around his shop window, but he didn't count on my strange tastes. I shined shoes and worked lots of little odd jobs just so I could buy a bag. I never got it, though. The winter came and it was cold on the streets, and I used what money I had to buy a coat. I left that place before the spring came. Someday I want to go back there and try it again. Sure, I've had lots of salmiakki since then, but none tasted as good as the first bite at that one shop." He paused. "I wonder if it is the same as I remember… For all I know, it could have been any average salmiakki and I've just painted the picture in my mind that it was better than the rest. I do that sometimes, you know." He sighed and pulled the blanket on the bed around his shoulders. The room was chilly since it hardly got any sunlight through its blocked window. "My first impressions tend to be wrong."

As if to prove his point, Tino heard footsteps down the hall coming towards his door. The man he previously thought was trying to help him opened the door quietly, as if trying not to disturb the stillness of a dead place, to check on Tino on the other side of the room. "How are you now, little one?" The boy narrowed his eyes at the other and held the blanket closer. It was itchy, though, and he sneezed. "Now, now. No trying to fake being sick," Ivan said in a light sing-song voice. "I can tell when you are lying."

"I'm not," Tino mumbled into the old fabric. "It's dusty in here. Why don't you have your minions clean your house every once and while?"

"Oh, this isn't my house," Ivan shook his head. "It is yours."

"Huh?"

"It hasn't been touched since it was abandoned by your father."

"You mean…this is where I used to live?" In this huge manor? Tino tried to picture it as a warm home for a loving couple and their baby. At one point he knew the paint wasn't chipping off the walls and the rooms had been fully furnished, but he couldn't see past the gloomy state it was in now. He would have to take Ivan's word for it. "Why did you bring me here, then?"

"It is a tradition of mine to bring the ones like you back to the places I first gave them their eyes."

"So it is part of the torture, is that it?"

Ivan shrugged. "You can see it as torture if you want. I see it as an appropriate place for a new beginning."

"You're a monster."

"You're a child." Ivan stepped forward to inspect Tino's ankle, which was almost fully healed by now. Tino knew if he didn't let Ivan look at it, the shadows would force him to, so he sat still and let the other do what he wanted. He winced and hissed under his breath when the other gave a light tug, but Ivan wasn't impressed. "You will have to do better than that to make me believe you." There really was no fooling him, was there? "Let me see you walk."

Tino got up and did as instructed, hoping for pain when he took a step, but at this point his injury was nearly gone. The bruise had faded until it was hardly there, and no matter how much Tino tried to look like the action hurt him, Ivan's smile only grew.

"Soon, very soon," he said, mostly to himself. Tino shuddered at what that meant.

All he could do was pray for a miracle.

* * *

**Describing how the shadows aren't clones made me think of "SHADOW CLONE NO JUTSU!" Feel free to brick me now.**

**So half of this I didn't proof-read or anything. Hope it's not too obvious.**

** Oh my gosh, so much foreshadowing in this chapter. CAN YOU GUESS WHO THE SHADOW PEOPLE ARE?**

**I just love messing with all the kinds of ways Ivan could become one with people.**


	6. The Heart of a Dragon

**HIATUS OVER! WHOO!**

**I was so determined to finish this goddamned chapter before school started again that I stayed up WAY past my bedtime and now I'm going to be cranky on my first day of winter quarter. You are welcome.**

* * *

If he were still a dragon, Berwald would have crossed the forest within an hour. But instead, his human legs bore short strides as he followed the trail he knew would take him to the river. He would follow it until he found Tino, then defeat the shape shifter that had him. If he could, that is.

To be honest with himself, Berwald was incredibly outmatched. He was only just getting used to functioning in a human body, what with his stomach almost constantly growling for food and his pale fragile skin breaking at the swipe of every branch. How was he supposed to defeat Ivan in such a state? The strength he still had left had been put into carrying the heavy armor strapped to his body and the sword on his hip to make up for his lost scales, teeth, and claws. He didn't even know how to use such a weapon. Every day that went by left him with less and less hope for victory…but he carried on with one thought running through his head:

Tino was in trouble. He didn't know what Ivan wanted with him, but it couldn't be good. Berwald could only press on and hope that the one he loved was still okay. He would do anything to save Tino, even if he had to die trying.

OOO

It had been hours since Ivan's visit, but Tino could not sleep. His heart was filled with dread at the prospect of what was to happen in the morning. Surely this was Tino's last night before Ivan had his way, but he would rather spend it sleeping than staring at the ceiling with nothing but his fate haunting his thoughts. There was no escaping it, was there?

In a fit of restlessness, Tino got out of bed and went to the door. He couldn't spend any more time sitting in the dark waiting for the sun to rise. The three shadows stood silently, as always, in a group by the door and followed him into the hall when he left. They stayed close as the boy descended the stairs that creaked with age. Echoes of his footsteps made him feel utterly alone. Every so often there would be a candle, just out of reach, providing just enough light to see, but not enough to hurt the shadows.

A few picture frames hung on the walls like crooked ghosts. On their canvases would be dusty images of faraway landscapes and scenes of gardens in summer. Tino touched one as if it would bring him closer to a place much brighter than this, but all he felt was cracking paint. Some images were of people, but Tino didn't know who they were. Maybe his family? He would probably never know. Their faces were damaged, as if someone had purposely tried to scratch them out, and Tino sighed as he looked them over and tried to imagine what could have been. It was pointless, though, and he knew it.

Tino and his silent company left the foyer and he aimlessly made his way through another hallway on the ground floor. There was very little to see here besides a few doors, most of them closed and locked. The rug was stale under his feet, having gone so long with little care, and it muffled his footsteps. He found that he preferred hearing them rather than being faced with the quiet of the abandoned dwelling.

Suddenly, there was a noise that made Tino flinch. It sounded like a thump, some metallic clacks, and then it stopped. It was nearby, so he crept as quiet as possible to the adjacent hallway to see what it was. The specters followed suit, though they didn't seem to be bothered at all by the noise and were preoccupied with the task of following Tino. Was it Ivan? Or was there someone else living in this place? There was only one way to find out.

"Hello?" he called into the darkness. There were no candles here, so Tino had to squint. It looked the same as the hallway he just came from as far as he could tell, and there was no reply to his meek greeting. Hesitantly, he went further in. "Is…is there anyone here?"

_Crunch_

Tino jumped again at the sound just under his feet. In the gloom he was able to make out a broken shard of glass under his foot…no, it was a mirror. On the wall nearby was an old broken mirror that was missing several pieces. Through the heavy layer of dust on its glassy surface, Tino could make out his own face staring back at him. He also noticed that the door behind him was open halfway, and in the darkness of the room, two blue dots flickered like little flames.

That was all the warning Tino had before he was suddenly being harshly pulled backwards. He made to yelp, but a hand covered his mouth and silenced him as the door was slammed shut, plunging him into complete blackness. With no vision and no idea what just happened, Tino panicked and struggled against the strong grip around his waist, trying to bite the hand that clasped over his cheeks. There was breathing right next to his ear now, but just as he was starting to pry away, a gruff voice whispered his name.

"_Tino!_" The boy froze in place. He knew that voice. "_Shhh, gonna get you out of –_ " A series of loud thuds cut him off. It sounded like the shadows were trying to break down the door.

Tino gasped and let out a muffled sound of surprise. It was Berwald! He spun around and, sure enough, those blue flickering eyes stood out like candlelight, as if they were giving off their own glow. Dragon eyes. "Berwald! How did you – "

"No time," he grabbed whatever he could of Tino in the dark and pulled him towards the wall.

There was no point in being quiet now that the shadows were making such a commotion and he broke the glass of a window Tino could not see. The sound of a sword being drawn and some swipes and chops finally allowed some moonlight into the room from behind the thick vegetation outside and Tino was helped through the hole. His feet met the untamed grass and he breathed in fresh air for the first time in days, suddenly realizing how dusty it was inside, and then turned to Berwald who was just swinging his legs over the windowsill. He looked very different now. Not just his new human form that was almost a head taller than Tino, but the gleaming armor adorning it. The last time Tino saw him, he'd been lying in a puddle unable to use his arms, and now he was wielding a sword! Though he was wielding it wrong, and his movements were far from graceful…

"Run," the man commanded. Tino didn't need to be told twice and he quickly took off through the overgrown garden. Behind him, the sound of the wooden door cracking made a lump form in Tino's throat. He was about to clear the short stone wall and duck into the safety of the trees, when he noticed that Berwald wasn't with him.

"What are you doing?!" he shouted. Berwald stayed where he was by the window.

"Go, I will stop them," he said. Tino shook his head in shock.

"What? No! You can't take them anymore, you aren't a dragon!"

"I can slow them down."

"They will kill you!"

The other didn't answer that. He swiped desperately at the air to make Tino move. "_Go!_" He shouted almost angrily, and for a second, the boy's heart was clenched in fear. Berwald was resolute; his strong jaw clenched tight, his brow lowered in apprehension, and his eyes, that inferno behind them, burned bright in the shadowy night, staring at him with the intensity of the summer sun. Tino had so many questions for this man – including how he got here, why he came all this way, and what was making him do this – but now was not a time for answers.

Tino bolted as the shadows crashed through the door, and Berwald turned around to face them. The boy's feet hardly touched the ground after he jumped over the crumbling stone wall as tall as his waist and he flew through the trees as fast as he could, his breathing ragged and heart feeling like a stampede caged in his chest. Tino was back where he started: running through the forest from specters in the middle of the night. He could hear the sound of a battle getting farther away, Berwald's roaring and clashing fading with the growing distance, and if he just ran a little bit farther, he might be able to escape it altogether. He could run all the way home, pack up his bags, and leave. He could find a new place far away from here, where Ivan and his minions would not find him, with no hoards of gold being guarded by obsessive dragons.

Gradually, Tino came to a stop. He stared at the path in front of him, luring him with the prospect of freedom, but he could not take another step. He didn't quite know what possessed him to do such a thing, to stop when he should be taking this chance he had been praying for, but here he was, frozen like a fool. All he could see was that look he'd been given just moments ago: That determination to stay. To protect. Something else, too, that was far from dragon-like.

Berwald was not just a coldhearted beast. This was something Tino did not want to admit for the longest time, because if Berwald wasn't, then what was he? What was the creature currently fighting for his life with nothing to gain from it?

Was this Tino's first impression of the blue dragon that held him captive?

…No.

It wasn't.

Somehow, Tino couldn't bring himself to believe in that image of Berwald anymore. He believed in the image of the dragon curling around him and them falling asleep together. The lonely beast that purred at his touch. Somehow, the selfish monster of greed had cared. That was proven on the cliff when he called out for _Tino_, not his eyes. It was being proven at that very moment while a greatly outmatched battle ensued. It was proven in that one look just moments ago that had not one hint of icy vanity. It was a look of pure fire, and it didn't just burn at him, it burned _for_ him.

Tino didn't quite know everything that was going on, and he was deciphering all of this with nothing more than gut feelings and instinct, but he knew that he couldn't just leave. He'd been running away his entire life. Now he had someone fighting for him, and Tino's consciousness would eat away at him if he turned his back on Berwald now. It was time for him to make a choice.

Tino turned around.

Soon enough, he was flying through the trees again, but this time it was back the way he came. He knew in his heart he would not be able to live with himself if he left behind the only person who cared. And he did care, or he wouldn't have come with that look on his face. He'd already cost Berwald his dragonhood, and he would not cost him his life. Besides, if Ivan was not stopped, he would only repeat this whole thing with another unfortunate victim just like Tino. He couldn't let either of these things happen. At least, not without a fight.

Tino followed the sound of the battle he'd been fleeing from and soon found himself at the stone wall. Berwald could be seen in the tall grass of the weedy garden, struggling to brandish his sword in the moonlight while the three shadows cornered him. They were vicious and scratched at his armor, dodged every weak blow Berwald gave, and drove the intruder into a panic. Berwald's feet got caught in the twisting vine laced into the grass during the frenzy and he tumbled backwards, shouting in defiance, and was blocked from Tino's view by the inky figures as he fought to gain back his footing.

Then suddenly, there was Ivan. He arrived in the form of a red raven descending from the dark sky, then as a giant bear charging towards its prey. The shadows scattered just in time but Berwald wasn't able to dodge and was thrown backwards into the sturdy wall of the mansion with a loud dizzying thud. His sword fell out of his hands and Ivan towered over him, baring his sharp white teeth from his red snout, and growling down at the one that had been causing him so much trouble. He raised a paw and was ready to bring it down on Berwald's head, that stoic look never wavering once as he readied himself to receive the final blow, when his view was blocked by another body. Ivan was barely able to stop himself before he hurt Tino, who had appeared out of nowhere, standing defensively between Berwald and the bear with his arms outstretched to each side, panting and squeezing his eyes shut for the blow that he thought would land. It didn't, though, and he opened his eyes to look up at the shape shifter, who did not look happy.

"Little one. Move."

"N-no," the boy shook his head and willed his voice to stay steady and strong. "If you want to kill him, you will have to go through me!"

"I do not have to go through anyone." Ivan pushed Tino with his paw out of the way a little rougher than the Finn was expecting. He stumbled away, realizing there wasn't much he could do to stop Ivan, except…

The shape shifter was just about to finish off Berwald when he heard Tino scream, "STOP!" He looked up to find that Tino had Berwald's sword now, and when the shadows drew closer to get him, he put the blade to his own neck. "Get any closer to Berwald or me, and you will have to find a new body!"

The shadows immediately stopped in their tracks, and for a moment, Tino felt victorious. That feeling went away as Ivan's snarl flipped into a toothy grin, and he chuckled low in his throat, as if he were entertained. "Do not take me for a fool. You would risk your life to save one such as him?"

"He's done the same for me."

"So he has…but I am still unclear as to why."

From the ground, a hoarse voice replied as strong as it could muster, "Love." Tino looked down to see him, his expression soft, and blinked at the unbelievable confession he just heard.

"…What?"

"Love."

"S-since when?"

"The start."

"But you…you said…"

Berwald shook his head. "No gem makes me feel this way. Tino is the only treasure I want."

It was all starting to make sense now. The way the dragon wouldn't give Tino up, the things he said on the cliff, and how he was here now when all odds were against him. "Berwald…"

"How despicable." Ivan moved away from the two, retaining an elated voice as his form morphed back into that of a human. "Love is what turned me into what I am now. It does nothing but weaken us, just as it has weakened you." Tino clenched the hilt of the sword until his knuckles turned white. Ivan suddenly gained a look of amusement. "In a way, we are one in the same."

"I'm nothing like you!" Tino spat. Berwald attempted to pull himself up, but a stabbing pain in his ribs forced him down with a wince.

"Oh?" Ivan turned around with a smile so innocent it was sickening. "You will be."

Tino felt the blade being torn from his hands and his arms were restrained behind his back. Berwald shouted his name, but it was too late. While Ivan had them distracted, the shadows crept closer, undetected, and seized Tino. Another grabbed Berwald and hoisted him to his feet again, earning a pained yelp, only to restrain him, too. Ivan ordered them not to kill Berwald yet but to instead take him inside. When given questioning looks, Ivan grinned.

"I told him he could have your amethysts, didn't I? He will watch me pull them out."

OOO

Tino struggled against the ropes binding him to a creaky wooden chair. His feet were tied to the legs and thick cord held his torso firmly to the back. A few feet away, Berwald grunted against the sharp grips of two shadows forcing him to kneel. He had very little strength left after the long journey to the mansion and the fight outside. The third shadow stayed motionless by Tino's side and Ivan wasn't in the room. He was 'preparing himself,' whatever that meant.

After a few minutes of giving himself rope burn, Tino gave up. He willed himself to relax and just breathe, though it seemed impossible at a time like this. It was too quiet in the mansion's dining room, the only sound being his and Berwald's ragged breaths, and Tino's heart beating thickly in his ears. The waiting and silence was maddening.

After a bit, he couldn't take it anymore. He lifted his head and looked at his companion kneeling with his hands held behind his back, who had given up struggling long ago. He appeared to be injured by the fight, with scratch marks adorning his once gleaming armor, now scuffed and dented, and wounds to anything that wasn't covered. The man's head was hanging so Tino couldn't see his face, but every so often, a drop of blood would fall from his cut lip into the small forming spot under him. It was hard to imagine that this was once a fearsome dragon that could smash a person's skull with the flick of its tail. The pride once holding his head high was gone. It was a sad scene, and Tino couldn't help but think it was his fault.

"Berwald," Tino called quietly to him. The man did not lift his gaze from the floor, but he knew he was listening. All the boy wanted was some kind of conversation. Anything. "So…you love me," he began simply.

"Mhm," was the grunted response.

"I had no idea." The boy shook his head slowly. "I didn't know dragons were capable of love."

Berwald spared a quick glance up, his expression unreadable, before flicking away again as if he were ashamed. "Neither did I."

"So you didn't really think of me as just a pair of gems after all? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Didn't know it m'self." Berwald's voice dropped to a low mumble. "Knew you were special, couldn't place why. When I loved something, I kept it close. I kept you close, like my other gems. It…wasn't enough…"

Tino sighed. "I guess I can't blame you. I probably should have figured it out myself, actually."

"M'sorry."

The boy was a bit surprised to hear that. "Huh? _You_ are apologizing to _me_? Why?"

"Couldn't protect ya." Berwald finally lifted his head. Tino could now see the sadness in those dulled blue orbs, the guilt and regret choking the bright color like smoke. "The most important thing, I couldn't protect. Ivan is right, I am no dragon…"

"Of course you are!" Tino wished he could move over there and comfort the one who was so close to tears. "Berwald, you came back for me! You were even ready to die, and that is the bravest thing I have ever known. No mere man has that kind of determination and bravery. And you may be a man now, but you still have the heart of a dragon if I've ever seen one."

Berwald stared for a moment while he processed the words. For a while, Tino thought he wouldn't believe them, but gradually, the other's lips twitched up in a small appreciative smile that lasted only a second. Tino smiled back, almost forgetting the terrible situation they were in, happy to give the other some kind of solace. He was glad to have met this dragon, despite everything that had happened. He really was a gentle giant after all.

Berwald cleared his throat and changed the subject. "So why'dya come back, anyway?"

Tino didn't know why his cheeks suddenly felt a bit warm. He looked away sheepishly and shrugged. "It's my fault you lost your dragonhood, so I couldn't just leave you here to get killed because of me, too. That's why. "

"Was my plan, though."

"Yeah, well…sometimes things don't go according to plan."

* * *

**Boy do I hate action scenes. The choreography, the descriptions, the pacing…ugh. This took me forever. XP But I feel like it turned out okay.**

**Thank you guys for waiting about a month while I settled into my new life. I've successfully avoided homelessness another year! Whoo! I shall celebrate with writing fanfiction. What a thrilling life I lead.**

**NEXT TIME: THE EXCITING CONCLUSION! STAY TUNED!**

**Oh, and Happy New Years from [location withheld]! R.I.P. 2012.**


	7. Sacrifice

**Warning: It gets a little bit graphic in this chapter…**

* * *

"Sorry to keep you waiting, little one," said a cheery, though rather slow, voice when the doors to the dining room opened. In came Ivan, who walked over to Tino and Berwald on the other side of the room being held down by ropes and inky grips. Something was a bit different by the way he moved his feet. When trying to sit down in the chair opposite of Tino, he nearly missed it, but his smile did not falter. His expression was a little drowsy altogether and a red hue spread over his cheeks. "I forget how resilient this body has become to the effects of alcohol."

"You're drunk?"

"Yes, and it was no easy feat. I forget how many bottles of vodka it took to numb me…but it was a lot." Ivan laughed. Nothing seemed particularly funny to the other two. "You've been a real pain, haven't you, Tino? One of the worst, honestly. I was going to wait until morning, but seeing how eager you are, we will just have to do it now."

"Do what?" Berwald demanded. He was glaring fiercely, and if Tino were on the other end of it, he was sure he would have had to take a step back. Ivan didn't seem impressed.

"Take his eyes, of course!" Berwald's body stiffened. "They'll be replaced with mine, and then I will have my youth back. It's been so long…this body ages, my joints grow stiff. It's served me well, but it is time for new bones and fresh blood again." Berwald was seething. He made to get up and lurched forward, but the shadow holding him down and the screaming pain of his injuries restricted him to where he knelt. Ivan got a dangerous glint in his hazy violet eyes and leaned closer. "Don't worry, your precious Tino will not die. He gets to live forever, too, trapped in those amethysts. You can keep him in your pocket forever and ever…and I will make good use of the rest of him."

"Don't touch him," the man growled deep in his throat. The anger was evident in his eyes, now glowing hot like a trapped inferno. It frustrated him to no end that all his strength and determination was locked away by a crippled body when he needed it most. It was not enough to still feel like a dragon.

Ivan chuckled. "There is nothing you can do. Not when you are as small and weak as you are now. I pity you."

"You have nobody to pity but yourself," said Tino. He kept his eyes fixed on the taller man swaying slightly in his seat. Perhaps Ivan was intoxicated enough to effect his judgment and they could stall him until an opportunity came to escape. It was worth a shot. "You steal the lives of others just so you can delay the fate of your own. What reason do you have to be the monster you are? Why do you cower so pathetically in the face of death?"

"Because I have seen it." Ivan's smile gradually faded. It took a moment before he began speaking again, his eyes locked on Tino, with a seriousness that revealed dark shadows under his eyes. "Have you ever seen death? Do you know its face? Its voice? The smell of its breath? It is cold." He dropped his voice to a whisper that threatened to merge his words with his breath. On his face was a blank far-off look, like he wasn't seeing Tino anymore. "A cold frost that steals the very breath from your lungs. A chill that can't ever be warmed. When you have seen it once, it lingers…it stays with you…haunting you…plaguing your mind with the image of their beautiful eyes, suddenly vacant and dark…" Ivan shook his head and looked down at his hands, now clasped together tightly in his lap as if by their own accord. "So young, they were. So lovely…but perhaps, not lovely enough. Death was not swayed...they stopped shivering…" He paused. "…Eyes as blank as snow…"

Ivan's rambling didn't make a lot of sense. He appeared smaller somehow, lost in his thoughts, maybe even a bit vulnerable. It made him almost seem younger, as if there was a time when he was not a monster, but merely a scared child that has seen too much. Tino looked to Berwald, but the other didn't seem fazed. He was still gritting his teeth and wincing when he took in too deep of a breath.

After a long while of silence that nobody dared to break, the shape shifter appeared to wake up from a dream. He was returning to his previous threatening demeanor, slowly but surely. "I will do anything to spare myself of such a fate. My soul will carry on, even if my body does not. Now, little one, it is time to begin."

He motioned to the shadow standing obediently next to him and it started to bind Ivan's wrists to the arms of the chair. His feet were also consensually bound to its old wooden legs, and Ivan appeared far too calm for what Tino knew would be happening next. He received a final look from his captor, that deceiving playful smile, before the man was blocked by the shadow standing between them.

"It will only hurt for a minute," Ivan assured. "My minions have gotten better at hastening the transfer over the years."

"How can you do this to yourself?!" Tino yelled. "Can't you feel pain, or is there so little humanity left in you that all you are is a husk!" He heard Ivan laugh back at him as the shadow blocking his view lifted its arms and leaned in.

"I told you, for the pain I have the vodka. For you, however, it will be _excruciating_."

Tino couldn't see anything as Ivan began to groan through his teeth. It quickly escalated into what sounded like choking, and the boy could only imagine what was happening. If he could tell by the way Berwald's face scrunched in pure disgust and how Ivan's hands gripped the chair by his nails, it was gruesome. Berwald, on the other hand, had a front row seat to the grisly scene of the shadow's fingers digging mercilessly into the flesh of Ivan's eye sockets. He froze from his struggles to powerlessly watch with wide horrified eyes what he was unable to stop. Ivan was only able to hold back the noises of pain in his throat for so long before he opened his mouth and screamed. It reverberated through the empty house and the surrounding forest, piercing Tino's pounding heart and nearly stopping it in his chest, and he squeezed his eyes shut for the duration of its haunting echos.

After what was almost an eternity of sickening screams, gasps, and squelches, Ivan's legs stopped kicking at his restraints. The large body went still and when the shadow's bloody hands retreated, it slumped over. Dead. It was no longer Ivan, but an empty shell dripping crimson into its own lap. In the shadow's open palms were the bloodstained purple eyes that held Ivan's awful soul, and Tino felt his stomach heave with nausea at the sight when the shadow turned around with them.

They were looking at him. In those orbs he could still see that smile.

"No!" In a solid burst of desperate energy, Berwald fought his restraints once again. He felt a surge of emotion hit him like a rockslide, everything from blind anger to utter terror raging inside the body that was far too small to contain it. The shadow that had been standing diligently behind Tino reached around the chair and secured the boy's head in place, which tried to lurch away while his breathing became raged. "Tino! TINO!"

"B-Berwald!" Tino called back in a whimper as the revolting eyes drew nearer. As if to tease him, time felt as if it slowed down. These were his final moments. There was no escape. His panicked gaze fell on Berwald, who was ignoring the pain from his injuries to fight with all his might. Would this be the last time he saw the man who was willing to give his life for a cursed boy he'd only met days ago? Memories flashed through his mind and he relived it in an instant, the gentle giant caring for and protecting him, the confusion, the sorrow, the warmth of what he now knew was unconditional love. This could be the last he saw of what was once a dragon, now a broken man with eyes burning in remorse for the one thing he loved and was not able to save. The only thing left of that powerful beast were those glowing eyes of his, which pierced through everything like a candle in the dark. That fire within…how was it able to burn so bright underneath his human skin?

_Everything I transform can never fully become what I want it to be._

Suddenly, Tino was still. He looked to Ivan's menacing eyes, then back to the oppressed man on the floor, and he realized that he was not a man at all. Ivan transformed everything about his body, except for the one thing that made him what he truly was no matter what form he took.

His heart.

"Berwald!" Tino shouted to get the other's attention. The shadow holding Ivan's eyes stood in front of him and blocked his view with a veil of darkness. "Berwald, you are still a dragon! He couldn't change your heart! Your fire, Berwald! _YOU ARE STILL A DRAGON!_"

At first, Berwald was confused by what Tino was saying. But then it clicked. The power locked inside his human body, that feeling of still being the beast he'd always been, the smoldering storm in his chest, it was all in his heart! And if his heart remained unchanged, then the fire it housed must also still be there!

He was running out of time. The dragon huffed and puffed, but he was unable to make the caged heat in his ribcage burst forth like he was used to. It was harder to force it through his human throat and it kept getting stuck! His attempts were met with failure until the inky apparition reached for Tino, and he heard the one he loved scream.

No, not Tino…

Anything but Tino!

The sound ignited something from deep inside of him; something he'd never felt before, and suddenly, a hefty roar tore out of Berwald's lungs. It was that roar that finally forced the trapped inferno past his lips and shooting into the air.

By the time Tino's scream ended, the scorching flash had torn the shadow in front of him apart and the eyes it held dropped to the floor. The one holding his head in place shot back to avoid the light of the flame and the one holding Berwald's arms behind him retreated as well. The dragon stood up and released his flame again with another loud roar at the one by the wall, then again to chase the shadow behind him into a corner. By now, the room was ablaze and the third one simply faded away, unable to avoid the overwhelming light. Berwald was breathing hard now, and he whirled back around to see if Tino was alright.

The boy was unharmed, though obviously shaken. He looked to Berwald with relief as he came forward and untied Tino's wrists and legs from the chair, and as soon as he was free, he was lifted to his feet and firmly secured in an embrace. Tino found himself surprised to be held so tightly, despite the weariness in Berwald's posture as he pressed his face into the smaller one's neck and let out a shaky breath. Breathy words accompanied it, but it was too mumbled for Tino to make out over the crackling fire. The flame caught easily to the old dry wood of the building and was starting to spread fast.

"U-uh, this isn't a good time," Tino reminded the other as he pulled himself away. Berwald realized this as well and began to lead Tino towards the large doors, but the boy did not follow. Instead, he broke away and grabbed Berwald's sword where it leaned against the table where Ivan had put it.

"What are you doing? We need to go!" Berwald urged, but Tino didn't listen. He bent down and scooped up the discarded eyes on the floor, which felt heavier and smoother than he was expecting, like cold polished gems rather than flesh, and set them both on the table.

"This is the only way to destroy Ivan. If we don't, the shadows will just keep coming back!" he explained quickly. He would be damned if they left any chance for Ivan's minions to retrieve the eyes and resurrect him.

Berwald nodded and stood by impatiently, but he understood that it was now or never. "Hurry."

Tino didn't hesitate to raise the jewel encrusted sword above his head. It glinted in the firelight, its powerful blade ready to strike, and right as he was bringing it down, the purple eyes on the table turned on their own for one last chilling look. It was over for Ivan. He would be immortal no longer, and Tino would be free!

_CRACK_

The eyes shattered on impact into a thousand shards of amethyst, and Tino's world went black.

OOO

The heat from the burning mansion could be felt even to the bank of the river where Berwald held onto Tino protectively, and Tino clung to anything of Berwald's he could find with his sense of touch. His eyes were wide open, but they couldn't see the fire raging in front of them or the water his companion offered in his palm. He couldn't see anything. The only thing that kept him calm was Berwald's presence, which he practically attached himself to when they sat down to rest by the shore.

The dragon managed to get Tino out of the place barely in time for the whole thing to be engulfed in flame. Now he focused on catching his breath and trying to soothe the one in his arms whose heart beat fast like a frightened rabbit. This whole ordeal took quite a toll on the poor boy, and now he was blind. Those amethyst eyes were still the same color of violet and could move and blink, but the part that let him see stopped working the moment Ivan was destroyed. Berwald couldn't help but blame himself for all of this. He was supposed to protect Tino…none of this should have ever happened!

"Berwald…" Tino's tired voice gained his attention and he comfortingly rubbed the other's back. "Do you think the shadows are gone?"

"Think so," he answered. "Don't see them. Ivan's gone so they won't be after you anymore."

"I sure hope so." The boy curled more into Berwald's undamaged side, now free of dented armor, and closed his unseeing eyes. The dragon wanted more than anything to take his worry away, but for now, all he could do was this. "I'm so glad that you came for me… I wouldn't have made it if it weren't for you. I told you, didn't I? That you still have the heart of a dragon." Tino managed a small smile. "It's a big heart, too."

"…It's yours."

The smile grew the tiniest bit softer at that when he felt his ears burn. "So I've been told. So…what happens now?"

"We go home."

"Yeah, but how? You are trapped in human form and I can't see." Berwald was silent for a moment while he thought of this. Right when he was about to reply, another voice spoke up from behind them.

"We can help you with one of those things…"

Berwald whirled around, which caused him quite a lot of pain in his ribs, and Tino yelped at the sudden action. The dragon kept the scared Finn behind him as he feebly got to his feet through gritted teeth and faced the source of that voice in the dark. What he saw was three figures, the same height and shape as the three shadows, except they were not faceless and inky black anymore and faintly glowing. The tallest wore blue and appeared to be the oldest of the three. The second tallest had green attire and kept most of his shoulder-length brunette hair tied back in a small tie. The third in red was a mere child, perhaps a preteen, and he hid slightly behind the green one and peered out nervously at the two. They seemed hardly threatening at all, and their kind smiles helped ease Berwald's apprehension. Tino, however, could not see the benevolent beings and waited anxiously for something to happen.

"Wh-what is it? Who's there?"

The eldest spoke first. "Do not worry, Tino, we are here to thank you. When you broke Ivan's eyes, you set us free from the spell that he cast on our bodies to bind us to him. He's been using us like puppets, and we have been unable to rest until now."

The brunette spoke next. "However, it also broke the spell that allowed your fake eyes to see. They are nothing but mere amethysts now."

Tino relaxed. Surprisingly, the news made him feel better now that Ivan's black magic was gone. Still, he knew, it would mean he would never see again. "So I am back to being blind, the way I was born?"

"Yes." The eldest paused and then added slowly. "But you do not have to remain so."

"That's why we are here!" the youngest spirit piped up before quickly darting back behind one of the others as if he'd done something wrong. "I-I mean, we want to help, because you saved us all and everything…"

Berwald let Tino stand beside him, now more curious than afraid. "How can you help him?"

"We can give him new eyes. Real eyes, the ones he was meant to have, and we can make them see."

Tino blinked in hopeful surprise. "You can do that?"

"If all three of us work together, then of course." The elder's smile faded a little and he turned his eyes to the protective dragon at the hopeful boy's side. "But as with all magic, there is a cost."

Tino didn't have to see where their eyes pointed to know they were speaking of Berwald. The dragon's grip around his waist tightened just a bit, and Tino quickly shook his head. "You don't mean like what Ivan did to my mother, do you? I can't sacrifice Berwald's life just for my sight!"

"Relax, that isn't what I mean," the spirit reassured quickly and put his hands up. "We have all been through that and know the horror of such a trade. The cost is not Berwald himself, but instead, something he possesses of equal value. Something very powerful."

Berwald's glowing eyes lit up in understanding. "…My heart."

"More specifically, the fire that resides in your heart, but yes. If you sacrifice your fire, we could restore Tino's sight. But it would also erase the last trace of your dragonhood and you would become fully human forever."

The two were silent while the weight of this decision settled. If they accepted, Berwald would lose the last piece of himself that still made him a dragon. The thought scared him, but…it was the only way to help Tino. Could he do it? Could he trade his fire for Tino's eyes? What else would he do with it now that this whole thing was over and he was trapped in human skin?

"There is another thing we can do," the youngest spoke again. He peered up at Berwald cautiously. "We could also use your fire to...um, put you back in your right body."

Berwald looked to the others and they confirmed this with agreeing nods. "Yes, it is powerful enough to reverse what Ivan has done to you and make you a real dragon again. You would not have your fire, but you would be what you have always been inside."

"You should do that," Tino said quietly. Berwald's eyes widened as he looked down at the boy who stared ahead blankly. "My sight isn't worth you giving up everything you are. I know how this body pains you. I know how important and precious your dragonhood is, just like how my humanity is precious to me. You weren't meant to be human, Berwald, but I was meant to be blind. I can adjust."

"But Tino…"

"Please," Tino raised his head, to face him, but he wasn't exactly sure where to look. Berwald helped guide him with gentle fingers on his chin, which then cupped his cheek as he looked into those shining sincere gems. Tino held that hand in place with his own and smiled. It was the same warm smile he craved for, the one that made him see past his natural desire for silver and gold and made him feel like the richest dragon alive. "It is your fire. Do what you know in your heart is right."

"We cannot stay very much longer," the brunette urged. "Your fire can either give you Tino's sight, or your dragon form. You can also do neither, the choice is yours. But you must decide now."

"It will be okay," Tino assured. "You have already done so much for me, so please…"

Berwald brought the boy to his chest and wrapped his arms around the one he fought so hard for. He murmured an apology into the other's ear, and Tino held him tighter, nodding in understanding and telling him once again that everything would be alright. The dark sky was beginning to turn fiery orange on the horizon, mimicking the smoldering coals of the burning mansion and his blue eyes holding back sparks of their own. He looked up at the rising plume of smoke and knew that the choice had been made for him.

Finally, he turned to the three former shadows that waited with bated breath for his answer, and he made his request.

* * *

**CLIFFHANGER POWERES, ACTIVATE! I lied about this being the last chapter. Well, it kind of is since I consider the next one to be an epilogue…whatever. What I'm trying to say is that it's not over yet.**

**Why, yes. Berwald could indeed breathe fire this whole time. Ain't I a stinker? :P And I don't think anyone is surprised that the Baltics were the shadow people.**


	8. Epilogue

**Short epilogue is short.**

* * *

Life seemed to have changed in a heartbeat. Quite frankly, Tino wasn't sure if he would ever adjust to living like this. For so long, he'd always see the apprehension and abhorrence on people's faces when he walked into town. These days he spent a lot more time among other folk, but he didn't see those looks anymore. Not only that, but he was accompanied by someone on these strolls rather than being alone. This someone was also having a hard time adjusting to the busy rhythm of human life, but with time, he was getting the hang of simple things, like eating with utensils or simply talking to a shop keeper. But Tino knew that although the fire was gone from Berwald's heart, it was still the same heart, and he would always be somewhat of a dragon.

It showed most of all when it came to the massive horde Berwald kept tucked away in the distant cliffs. He had a hard time parting with gold coins and gems, a leftover instinct from his life before, and when he saw a new diamond adorning a necklace of one of the wealthier ladies in town, Tino had to break him out of the trance it put him in. He would always go back to normal when he turned around to see Tino, and those new eyes reminded him that the only gem he really needed was right there in front of him. If he had to, he would part with all of his glitter and gold just to make Tino happy. There was so much of it, though, that it would probably never come down to that.

It took only a handful to buy the land and house the two resided in just a short horse ride away from town. Another handful would provide them enough currency for food and supplies for a whole year. Tino would never have to work again! However, he still enjoyed hunting, and he would often take Berwald with him into the woods and show him why humans, with no sharp teeth or claws, were on the top of the food chain. It was all about patience…something Berwald had to learn for himself.

While the dragon in him remained strong, he was no doubt learning how to be human as time went on. It wasn't too much of a stretch, seeing how he'd always been a gentle giant to Tino, but some things needed to change if he was going to live this new life. His temper was one of them. It would happen when the former dragon became frustrated with something he couldn't quite understand or do and lash out at anything that got in his way. They went through three dining room tables, several panes of glass, and had to repair a wall when Berwald put a fist-sized hole through it. It always scared Tino when he got like that and he would flee the room to let Berwald get it out of his system. These were the times he felt guilty about causing Berwald to sacrifice his dragonhood, even if it had been the other's choice when he did so. A creature like him was obviously not born to live this way. When the door opened to reveal the tall man looking for Tino, he always feared that would be it and Berwald would yell at him, or maybe even hit him, and then leave forever, given up on something he sacrificed so much for but now didn't feel was worth so much trouble. Who was Tino to keep him imprisoned like this? But Tino made it clear that he would not spend his life in a cave, so in the end, someone would be imprisoning someone.

Those worries and fears melted away when Berwald would come in and scoop Tino up in his arms, as gentle as the beat of a hummingbird's wings, and apologize for letting his temper get the better of him. He would promise to try harder, and the Finn would sometimes see a regretful tear in those blue eyes that no longer glowed hot. They were cool and placid, more like the ocean, and just as deep and mysterious. They were always soft when they looked to Tino for much needed comfort in these moments of vulnerability, and Tino felt foolish for thinking Berwald would ever hurt him. Little did he know, the former dragon feared just as much that Tino would someday not want to put up with him anymore and leave. He didn't know what he would do if Tino, his only support, was not there anymore. It was different now that he couldn't confine what he loved to his horde like he had in the beginning. Back then Tino had been the one relying on Berwald, and now it was the other way around. It was so much easier back then when he didn't have to wonder if his jewels and gems were happy, but then again, it wasn't nearly as rewarding as feeling his precious treasure voluntarily holding his hand. It gave him back his pride to be the one that made Tino smile, and often it felt greater than it ever had before. That alone made him unable to give up.

Tino's patience and Berwald's determination eventually paid off. With time, these frightful doubts and fears melted away and left the two feeling more relaxed. Berwald appeared to grow domesticated, his wild side not quite so dangerous and unpredictable, and Tino felt truly happy for the first time in his life. He was not a freak, he had someone who cared by his side, and he had friends and a home that was no longer lonely. Winter days watching snow fall past his window were accompanied by an arm wrapped contently around his waist while sipping hot chocolate by the crackling fire. Sometimes days of complete silence would drift by when there was nothing to do but read a book and be lazy, but Tino never felt isolated. Berwald's presence wasn't just that of a protector, it was of home. And judging by the way the former dragon would fall asleep almost instantly with his head in Tino's lap, practically purring at the gentle touch of fingers running through his flaxen hair, Berwald felt at home, too.

After many years that seemed to blend together, it was hard to remember that fierce beast that lived only for greed that was once the man now content to play with a small stray dog that followed him home from town. It was also hard for Berwald to remember the violet amethysts he used to see when Tino looked his way. Their allure was replaced by a new desire, defined by a new color, one that was just as much of Tino as the rest of him was. He hardly missed the fire he gave so that Tino could keep smiling the way he did. It gave him a new flame that burned hotter than his last, one he knew he would never lose as long as he lived.

This was how it was meant to be. No cursed amethysts, no dark magic and haunting shadows, no worries or cares in the world. Just so long as loving ocean blue eyes met warm copper brown for the rest of their lives, they were home.

* * *

**THE END.**

**Do you see what I did there? With Finny now having brown eyes? Eh? **_**Ehhh**_**? ;) Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing and everything! You guys rock.**

**SO. Now that this story is over, I need to get working on a new one. I was thinking it would be cool as captain crunch if I had YOU guys decide the next fantasy theme! Go to my page and check out the poll I posted. I await the results!**

**[EDIT] the poll is closed and the results are in! Looks like I get to choose between space vikings, ghosts, or time travel. You will have to wait and see~**

**And with that, I bid you farewell!**


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